Uttar Pradesh ready for world’s 7 billionth baby

Agencies/Lucknow

A primary health centre in Sunhaida village has predicted the baby will be born to 25-year-old Pinky Pawar, wife of a local shopkeeper. Celebrations are planned today with sweets and fireworks ready for the new arrival

At least two villages in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh are preparing to celebrate today the arrival of the world’s 7 billionth baby, media reported. The UN recently declared that the world’s population would touch 7bn today, although the exact moment or place where the child would be born could not be pinpointed. This has not deterred non-profit organisations working on maternal health and children’s issues from choosing their own prospective 7 billionth child in villages in Uttar Pradesh, the Telegraph newspaper reported. A primary health centre in Sunhaida village has predicted the baby will be born to 25-year-old Pinky Pawar, wife of a local shopkeeper. Celebrations are planned today with sweets and fireworks ready for the new arrival. Approximately 11 children are born every minute in the northern state. Yet the practice of aborting female foetuses has skewed Uttar Pradesh’s male-to-female ratio, which stands at 1,000 boys to 898 girls. To draw attention to India’s 7mn “missing” girls, Britain-based children’s welfare group Plan has started a countdown for the birth of the 7 billionth baby in Mal village near the capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. Plan has chosen seven women expected to give birth today. The first newborn girl is to be declared the 7 billionth baby, Bhagyashri Dengle, executive director of Plan India, said. Another group working on child welfare, Vatsalya, is arranging for 250 expectant mothers to deliver at a community hall on the outskirts of Lucknow. The first baby to be born during that event today is to be declared baby number 7bn. Top state officials are expected and state population registrars, social workers, the media and local celebrities will attend a special ceremony at the community health centre, where the newborn will be instantly issued birth certificates as a part of their ‘Right to Identity’.“Vatsalya has been entrusted with the task to look after these seven babies for the next seven years, and it would be our proud privilege to also see that these children get their right to education as well as right to food security,” Neelam Singh, head of Vatsalya, said.“An average of 15,000-16,000 children are born every day in Uttar Pradesh and of these as many as 350 take birth in Lucknow,” she added.Organisers for both Plan and Vatsalya say the events are meant to draw attention to the fact that many baby girls are aborted. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Saturday that the birth of the 7 billionth baby was an occasion for worry rather than celebration. “It’s not a matter of joy but a great worry. We shouldn’t be celebrating the birth of the 7 billionth child,” the Times of India newspaper quoted Azad as saying. “India has 2.4% of the global landmass and around 18% of the global population. For us, a matter of joy will be when our population stabilises,” Azad said. According to UN projections, the population of India is expected to touch 1.5bn - and supersede that of China - by 2025. India’s current population is estimated to be 1.2bn. In 1999, the UN named a Bosnian son of refugee parents the world’s six billionth person, but it has no such plan to name anyone this time. It has, however, launched a global campaign called ‘7 Billion Actions’, asking individuals, organisations and corporations to share their stories of how the world of 7bn people can be a better place for all to live.