NAKUSHA

NAKUSHA
(The Unwanted Child)
Video documentary UNICEF, New Delhi 20 minutes,   1989
Nakusha is not an invented title, but the name of the fourth daughter of a rural family that is the focus of this documentary. Nakusha has been chosen as the symbol of the girl child in India, "not only invisible but also ignored and uncared for", and, all too often, "the victim of neglect that kills". The girls tell us in their own words their story of stunted lives, of the denial of childhood. We see them at work — in the home, in cottage industry sheds, in the fields — and, too few, and too briefly, at school. 70 percent of the Indian children not enrolled in elementary school are girls; 74 percent of girls 11 to 16 are not in school. The voices of the girls are interspersed with those of their elders: "A girl belongs to her husband´s family…If she wastes her time studying how will she learn to cook?"
The professionals interviewed stress the urgent need for change in these attitudes if the statistics are to change: 10-20 percent girl child mortality in Northern India; 40.5 percent mortality rate in the first five years of life; 75 percent illiteracy. The impact of the film might have been greater if the lives of these girls had been portrayed alongside those of their brothers. Nonetheless, it provides a rare opportunity for the voice of the girl child to be heard. Summarised in the words of one small girl when asked about her dreams: "There are no dreams." – Beverly   Brar