Karnataka Health Minister's remarks on 'modern Indian women' invite flak

Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar waded into controversy on Sunday by claiming that modern Indian women want to stay single and are unwilling to give birth even after marriage and desire children by surrogacy, news agency PTI reported.

However, Sudhakar's statements did not go down well with women's organisations, which condemned the generalised statement, stressing that women are free to decide whether to have a child or not.

"Today, I am sorry to say this, lots of modern women in India want to stay single. Even if they get married, they don't want to give birth. They want surrogacy. So there is a paradigm shift in our thinking, which is not good," he said during the World Mental Health Day at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS).

He said that every seventh Indian has some mental issue -- mild, moderate or severe. However, he said that stress management is an art and Indians need not learn it but can preach to the world how to handle it.

Reacting to his statement about women, All India Democratic Women's Association Vice President Vimala K.S. told IANS that one minister from the ruling BJP states that women should not go out and another is recommending walks.

Some want to bring laws to control the population and some say women are not wanting babies, she said, adding that they speak different dialects.

She said that it is the freedom of women whether to have a baby or not and added that the minister must have forgotten that a large section of women in this country does not have the rights over their bodies.

Vimala added that being a minister, issuing a sweeping statement like this is not good and while being a Health Minister, is not acceptable.

"Let minister Sudhakar prove his statement. How many women have these choices? Like women, many men do not want to have children. Why no one says anything to them," Vimala said.

Equal rights activist Brinda Adige told IANS that Sudhakar's statement is "sexist, patriarchal, and unbecoming of a minister".

"He is talking about a minuscule number of people and his statement is not based on research. He is making statements on women's choices which is what we do not want...

"Look at our laws. There is hardly any support from the government for mothers. How many government officers offer the service of creches... big corporate houses... what support they are giving," she asked.

It is not only giving birth, it involves looking after the children. If at all government wanted to make statements it should have spoken about how they can help mothers, Adige added.