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Conversations invariably took the same form. First there was the monologue: “India is on the way to greatness… ” they would assure me. “Do you know what holds us back? The only thing that holds us back? Too many Indians”.
Then came the catechism, grindingly familiar no matter what the political party: Poverty? Caused by overpopulation. Disease? Caused by overpopulation. Problems with infrastructure and corruption? Overpopulation…
With a wistful look, and defeated shrug I was told, time and again, that overpopulation was both cause of the problem and ultimate block to a solution.
This week, more than 15 years after I left that job, at least 13 women have been killed in India as a direct result of that same old catechism, and dozens more are in pain.
The victims were among those who received tubectomy operations at a government-run mobile sterilisation clinic in Chhattisgarh - one of India's most impoverished states. The procedure involves clamping, or severing a woman's fallopian tubes so the eggs can no longer reach the uterus for fertilisation.
The clinic was run as part of a national campaign to slow India's population growth. Over a six hour period, a Dr R K Gupta carried out 83 procedures. It was a conveyor belt, where he spent, on average, two minutes on each ‘problem’ - cutting her open and tying her tubes. Full story...
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Conversations invariably took the same form. First there was the monologue: “India is on the way to greatness… ” they would assure me. “Do you know what holds us back? The only thing that holds us back? Too many Indians”.
Then came the catechism, grindingly familiar no matter what the political party: Poverty? Caused by overpopulation. Disease? Caused by overpopulation. Problems with infrastructure and corruption? Overpopulation…
With a wistful look, and defeated shrug I was told, time and again, that overpopulation was both cause of the problem and ultimate block to a solution.
This week, more than 15 years after I left that job, at least 13 women have been killed in India as a direct result of that same old catechism, and dozens more are in pain.
The victims were among those who received tubectomy operations at a government-run mobile sterilisation clinic in Chhattisgarh - one of India's most impoverished states. The procedure involves clamping, or severing a woman's fallopian tubes so the eggs can no longer reach the uterus for fertilisation.
The clinic was run as part of a national campaign to slow India's population growth. Over a six hour period, a Dr R K Gupta carried out 83 procedures. It was a conveyor belt, where he spent, on average, two minutes on each ‘problem’ - cutting her open and tying her tubes. Full story...
Related posts:
- 8 women dead, 50 hospitalized after sterilization surgery in Chhattisgarh...
- 14 infants die in 24 hours in West Bengal's Burdwan Hospital...
- 36 infants die in five days at govt-run Kolkata hospital in India...
- India reviews state hospitals to end widespread corruption...
- Sweeper in Indian hospital doubled up as doctor!!!
- Patient in Indian hospital dies after rats chew off his penis...
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