Newborns and lure of money

The organised sale of newborns by a retired nurse, Amuthavalli, in Rasipuram of Namakkal district has thrown up several questions on adoption procedures in India, which have become so stringent that parents have to wait for a few years before getting a child.

The Namakkal case was brought to light after a recorded telephonic conversation between Amuthavalli and a man posing as a buyer was leaked online.

In the recorded conversation, the nurse, who had some years back taken voluntary retirement from the Rasipuram Government Hospital, claimed she had been in the bbay selling business for 30 years.

Police arrested Amuthavalli, ambulance driver Murugesan, broker Arulraj after the leaked conversation and interrogated them under police custody.

CB-CID Superintendent of Police, Salem, Chamundeeswari said that if needed, they may seek more time from the court to bring out the truth. It is to be noted that installation of CCTV cameras in government hospitals came into practice following widespread child thefts.

Field workers say that many newborns are given away for adoption (through illegal channels), not for money, but out of goodwill. Couples approach nurses in government hospitals looking for abandoned children. Sometimes money also plays a role.

Often, a woman who conceives a child out of wedlock, is counselled by her group of friends to keep the child and find a good home for it. In the absence of this support, many women would choose to abort the child or kill themselves.

Nurse Amuthavalli's advocate Jayaraj told this newspaper: “It is a false complaint. It will not stand in court as neither the one who sold nor the one who bought the babies lodged a complaint.”

There are 2,893 parents from Tamil Nadu, who have registered with cara.nic.in, the official website for adopting children. But there are only 298 children in the Government Child Care Centres in the state. Those who have registered with the website have to wait to be alotted a child.

In the meantime, the sale of newborns goes unchecked with neither the parent buying a child for adoption nor the one selling, openly declaring the deal.

Department of Social Defence authorities say that malpractices in the adoption centres earlier, such as bribing officials to get a child without a long wait, pushed the government to make changes in the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act to make it more stringent, leaving little scope for any wrongdoing.

R Lalvena, commissioner, Department of Social Defence, said online registration was introduced from 2015 to curb money power and influence. Those who try to buy or sell babies will have to face three to five years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,00,000, she said.

Further, instead of spending lakhs of rupees at the artificial insemination centres, people find it easier and cheaper to buy children from the market without breaking too much sweat. The lure of the money also makes parents come out to sell and their newborns.

In 1992, the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa introduced the cradle baby scheme under which cradles were placed in front of government hospitals and Primary Health Centres, allowing parents who could not raise a child to safely deposit them into the government’s care. Around that time, it was common practice to abandon female babies or kill them by administering the milky sap from an Oleander (Yerukkum) shrub or Cactus (Kalli) plant.

Abandoned infants deposited in the cradle swere raised at government approved child care centres with full government funding.

Initially, the schceme was widely appreciated, but there were sharp criticisms about the physical and emotional health of the children brought up in those childcare centres. So far, 5,239 children have been received under the scheme. In the first seven years, 3,279 children were deposited in the cradles. But, between 1999 and 2019, only 1,963 children have been received.

The decline in the numbers is a point to ponder. Social activists cite different reasons for it: Lack of proper attention for the children received under the scheme; illegal scanning of foetuses to determine the sex which will decide whether or not the foetus will be allowed to live; illegal sale of newborns (like the Rasipuram case).

The fall in the numbers may also be attributed to parents finding homes for the child by themselves, hoping for a wealthy environment rather than giving up their children and leave them to grow up in a government-owned child care centre.

On a positive side, steady government campaigns to educate parents on keeping and raising female children, and effective campaigning for family planning might have also helped in the numbers falling.

The cradle baby scheme was started initially in government centres at Theni, Dharmapuri, Salem and Madurai. Later, it was increased to 20 centres. These centres also took in children abandoned/orphaned on the streets.

If such children are found on the roadside, people can dial the children helpline 1098. They would be asked for the details to rescue the child and then admit them at the child care centres. The children are brought up at these centres till they attain theage of 18.

Those who would like to adopt these children and are not familiar with online procedures can contact the State Adoption Resource Agency and ask for their guidance. People can also contact the District Child Protection Unit, a four-member team headed by the district collector at every District Collectors’ Office. Girija of the Indian Council for Child Welfare said, “Adopting a child is a long process and parents should be patient. The laws are made stringent in the interest of welfare of the child.”