7 years down the drain!

So now singles are going to be excluded from the new ART guidelines, with some suggesting that this should be made broader to include all international clients ( this is a suggestion only, but it is out there)

What is going on with us in India? Seven years of talks, meeting, debates from all sectors including social. legal medical paramedical government all trashed by one report from a cash rich foreign funded organisation to stop surrogacy in India.

The media is filled with reports of what will and will not be included in the new draft proposal; what is lacking is again any consultation with the field - why bother when decisions have already been made.

Planning Commission member Syeda Hameed has a close relationship with a number of NGO's and has been clear of her bias towards surrogacy and is one of the reasons why a dodgy report with  questionable methods is being touted as evidence. She is willing to promote the 'expertise' of organisations such as SAMA, but refuses to acknowledge that others in the field may have equally valid views.

Now we have a quote from DGHS Dr. Jagdish Prasad  ( a cardiologist) suggesting that lines must be tighten, confirming the ban on singles and suggesting that the ban should exclude all foreigners, with the main reason being surrogates are being abused. Further, we don't know what happens to the children??

Really, we don't know? Have you thought about asking? Even the most basic search of surrogacy in India shows links to 100's of blogs from happy families, sharing their joy to the world. The learned Doctor is basing his assumptions on "alleged" incidents that may have occurred, but are again being reported as fact. So, why now, do we have a situation in which a cash rich foreign funded organisations such as CSR has the influence to deny any kind of progress.

Seven years of consultation, discussion, mediation, in which India was moving towards being a world leader down the drain. We now have increased the panic across the world; India is not stable; India cannot be trusted to change the rules; India continues to hold our embryos/our children hostage.

We promote poor research, mixing allegations' and hearsay as facts. We have staff from these cash rich foreign funded organisations being promoted and asked to travel across the world to share their findings. That these countries have their own surrogacy programmes is a happy coincidence.

So the question remains, why are we, as Indians, prepared to sabotage ourselves so brilliantly. More importantly who has been financing all this "research", and why, now, is this the only evidence that is up for discussion?