Nakushi, a popular name for ‘unwanted’ girls in Maharashtra

Dwarka Dhutalmal’s one-room shanty in Padalsingi village, about 20 km from Beed district in Maharashtra, is filled with the mischievous cackling of young girls. The 32-year-old Dwarka lives with her husband, Subhash, their five daughters, and her mother-in-law, Radhabai. On asking each daughter’s name, a disturbing fact emerges.

While the elder two are christened Anjali and Ashwini, their third daughter was named ‘Nakushi’ until a few months ago. She is now called Amrapali on government records, after the family was asked to change her name. Nakushi, which means unwanted in Marathi, is a name commonly given to the third girl child in families belonging to several parts of Maharashtra, including Beed and Satara districts. The practice stems from the belief that if so named, there is a possibility that the fourth child will be male. The belief, however, didn’t bear fruition in Dwarka’s case. Her fourth daughter, Nisha, was followed by their youngest, Bharti.

“We are aiming to build a female cricket team,” jokes Subhash. However, it’s no laughing matter for his mother, Radhabai, who has been pushing Dwarka to deliver a male child. “In that bid, I am pregnant again,” says Dwarka.

The five sisters are aged nine, eight, six, three and one and a half years old. While tenets of family planning dictate that there should be a gap of at least three years between two consecutive births for a mother, the norm is conveniently ignored by families desperate for a son.

Beed has been notorious for its discrimination against the girl child. From 2001 to 2011, the district’s child sex ratio, between 0-6 years, dropped from 894 to 807. For every 1,000 male children, there are 807 female children in Beed. As per the 2011 census, the average child sex ratio in India is 918 girls per 1,000 boys.

Ever since reports of rampant sex determination and female foeticide emerged from Beed, the state health department has been actively cracking down on illegal sonography centres under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act. “Following this, the sex ratio in Beed has risen to 929,” informs Dr Sandip Sangle, District Health Officer.

However, the crackdown hasn’t deterred families who go to neighbouring Karnataka for sex determination tests. “Sex determination costs them almost Rs 40,000. In the initial weeks of pregnancy, it is difficult to determine the sex of the foetus. But in a bid to mint money, doctors declare the foetus female. In some cases, wherein families had the money for a test but not enough for abortion, they returned to Beed and the mother went on to deliver a boy child. Such families later recorded testimonies about how they were misled,” explains Dr Sangle.

There are ample examples in every village, where the girl child is christened ‘Nakushi’ or Kachrabai which means akin to garbage, or Dagadbai that means akin to stone.

“We are trying to change the pattern,” says Dr Sangle. A few years ago, names of over 200 ‘Nakushis’ were formally changed. “Hopefully, the girls can go on to have a respectable future with their names and identities but how do we change people’s mindset?” concludes Dr Sangle.