Karnataka: Women MLCs pull up minister over teen pregnancy data

Bengaluru: The government's claim that 986 teenage pregnancies have been reported in the last three years came under question by the two senior women lawmakers who took Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar to task for "misleading" the Legislative Council on Friday.

In a reply to the question on teenage pregnancies, the minister stated that in the last three years, 986 teenage pregnancies were reported across the state, and this number triggered the women members' ire.

Raising objection to the data presented by the minister, senior Congress member Umashree, a former minister for Women and Child Development, said, "I am shocked with these numbers. The number available with the health and family welfare department is higher. It doesn't match with what is provided by the women and child development minister."

Rejecting the numbers, BJP's Bharati Shetty informed the House that recent media reports have revealed the real picture. "The numbers given by the minister might be from a few districts," she said. She even requested the minister not to mislead the House by giving false information.

In Hebbalkar's written reply, the reason for teen pregnancies in Kolar was thus: "Kolar is attached to borders of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Because of inter-state marriages, the cases of teenage pregnancies are increasing." For Mandya, the reasons stated were rising love affairs and couples eloping due to "negligence of parents". 

"Look at the reasons given by the department. What is this? How can parents be responsible? Instead of taking necessary awareness measures and severe action, the department is giving such irrelevant reasons," Bharati Shetty said.

JD(S) MLC T A Saravana questioned the efficiency of the officials working with the department. "Entire civil society is worried about the issue, but the reply given by the minister is meaningless," he added.

Another senior MLC from JD(S) Thippeswamy expressed displeasure over holding parents responsible for the increase in teenage pregnancies.

"Cases have been reported even from Gadag. What is the district administration doing? It is not right to hold parents responsible for it," he said. 

Hebbalkar defended her written reply. "Of course I don't agree that it is because of parents' negligence, but there are chances because of love cases."

Lawmakers demanded that the Department of School Education & Literacy organise awareness programmes in schools for classes 7-10.

Cut-off box - Bill on temple funds defeated in Council
The BJP and JD(S) on Friday defeated the Karnataka Hindu Relegious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 1997 in the Legislative Council.
Details on Page