Village Celebrates Birth Of Girl Child, Calls For Political Change

It's a village that celebrates the birth of a girl child by beating drums and playing cymbals. Traditionally, this was done for the birth of a male child, but in this village the women decided it was time for a social change. Led by their sarpanch, they decided to fight against female foeticide and the only way to do it was by celebrating the birth of every girl child in the village. The women say they also want a political change, where women's issues and drinking water are a priority for politicians. According to the 2011 census, the child sex ratio in Rajasthan was 883 females per 1,000 male births. In this village of Sardar Samand, it's more than 950. In the annual survey of education report or ASER, the dropout rate for girls by the time they reach higher classes in Rajasthan is about 20 per cent. But in this village, no girl child is out of school. Rajasthan has 2.3 crore women voters.