Pune Page One Tuesday , June 27, 2006
It may soon be curtains for babies’ day out at Preet Mandir
Child & Welfare Dept seeks Centre’s nod to clip agency’s global wings
Sunanda Mehta
Pune, June 26 FOLLOWING the recent controversy over alleged malpractices by the city-based adoption agency, Preet Mandir, the State government has sought the Centre’s permission to cancel the inter-country adoption licence. For Preet Mandir’s head J S Bhasin, who not too long ago attributed Pune’s emergence as an important centre for adoption in the country — ‘‘...this is the mandi, the market for babies’’ — this has come as a rude shock.
Now, The Commissioner of Women and Child Welfare Department has initiated a detailed inquiry into the working of Preet Mandir and has recommended the State government to cancel Preet Mandir’s inter-country adoption licence. This licence allows the agency to put children up for adoption to foreign nationals — a route that is allegedly used by adoption agencies to make easy money.
‘‘The State government has forwarded the request (of cancelling the inter-country licence) to the Central government and we are waiting for orders from them,’’ Women and Child Welfare commissioner Ashwini Kumar told Pune Newsline.
In fact, the Adoptive Coordinating Agency (ACA) has brought to the notice of the commissioner as well as the New Delhi-based Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) allegations about Preet Mandir’s unfair adoption practices. One of the complaints against Preet Mandir is that it discourages Indian parents from adoptions so that they can go in more for foreign adoptions, Nishita Shah, chairperson of ACA that clears all adoptions in the city, said.
As per the government rules, a child can be put up for adoption to foreign parents only if at least three Indian parents refuse that child. The rules also state that Indian parents should account for at least 50 per cent of all adoptions from a centre. As per the statistics with ACA, for the financial year 2005-06, Preet Mandir put up 100 children for foreign adoptions as against 62 for Indians.
However, Bhasin dismisses these statistics as misleading. ‘‘Sixty-six per cent of children were put up for Indian parents (including NRIs in 2005-06) and only 33 per cent for foreigners,’’ he said.
Shah said Preet Mandir came in for discussion at almost every meeting of ACA. ‘‘There have been many complaints about the agency charging exorbitant amounts from foreigners and we have brought it to the notice of the commissioner and CARA,’’ she said.
Commissioner Kumar admitted that they have received complaints of Preet Mandir’s alleged malpractices and said they were also inquiring into the allegation of child trafficking. ‘‘Though nothing has come to light as yet to support the allegation, if child trafficking is on then it is a very serious issue,’’ he said.
Preet Mandir has three adoption centres — two in Pune and one in Aurangabad — and is one of the largest adoption agencies in the State where people from all parts of the country and world come for adoption. Bhasin has an explanation for that too. ‘‘We do not refuse a child to anybody. We understand everyone’s requirements and make sure they get the child they want,’’ he had told this paper a few weeks ago.
On Monday, Bhasin again reiterated that the charges were all baseless and misleading and said they would respond to CARA that has issued a show-cause notice to it.