Arogya Bharati, the health and family welfare wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the city will host a workshop on how to have "a good child.”
The two-day workshop, titled ‘Garbha Sanskar and Dampati Samikshan’ (Reforms in childbearing and counselling of couples) will be held in early May at Ekal Bhawan, the south Kolkata office of the organisation, an Arogya Bharati invite sent on an instant messaging group, said. A ‘traditional childbearing and infertility expert’ from Jamnagar in Gujarat will participate in the workshop.
Speaking to The Hindu, S ecretary of the Kolkata chapter of Arogya Bharati, Joyshree Rakshit said the initiative was aimed at “raising awareness in Bengal about the traditional wisdom of ancient Hindu sages on the ways of bearing an ideal and good child.”
“Everything is now controlled by the doctors in the big hospitals and thus people are suffering,” Ms Rakshit said.
However, a senior RSS official said the workshop was intended to “increase awareness about the demographic imbalance between the majority and minority community in Bengal.”
The workshop invite, with Arogya Bharati's logo — the Swastika — compared childbearing to maintaining a garden. “Weeds can easily grow in a garden if [the garden] is not properly nurtured, but well-planned nurturing is required for growing beautiful flowers. Similarly proper planning and nurturing is required to bear a good child,” the invitation said.
