Karnataka Health Minister Comments on “Modern Indian Women”, Sparks Outrage

Karnataka minister’s comment leads to outrage

Monday, 11th October 2021

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar made some contentious remarks about modern Indian women and their choices of remaining single, not give birth even after marriage and chose surrogacy over normal birthing. The minister’s controversy laden words sparked outrage among the people of Karnataka on Sunday.

Dr Sudhakar said, “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.”

The remarks were made during a speech that the state health minister was delivering at the World Mental Health Day at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS). He also added that there is an untoward “western influence” on society and people no longer want their parents, leave alone grandparents, to live with them.

He said, “Unfortunately, today we are going in a western way. We don't want our parents to live with us, forget about grandparents being with us.”

Most of Dr Sudhakar’s words led to an uproar especially among the female population of the state. The minister went on to talk about the mental issues that are face by Indians in their day to day lives.

According to the minister, every seventh person in Indiais undergoing some sort of mental distress. He stated, stress management is an art and said, “Stress management is an art. This art we need not learn as Indians. We need to preach to the world how to handle stress, because yoga, meditation, and Pranayama are the wonderful tools that our ancestors had taught the world thousands of years back.”

Talking in context on the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the minister said that people are undergoing mental agony due to Covid-19 as they are not unable to make physical contact with people they love. He also mentioned that the state has been making special arrangements to counsel patients suffering from Covid-19 and coaching them through mental distress.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source

NDTV