In a village in Haryana's Fatehabad district, the Singwai family is celebrating the birth of a son after ten daughters and 18 years. Mother Sunita Singwai endured 11 pregnancies amid societal pressures favoring boys. The event underscores deep-rooted cultural preferences despite the state's improving sex ratio.
The Singwai household in Dhani Bhojraj village, Fatehabad district, Haryana, echoes with joy following the birth of a son on January 4. Sunita Singwai, 37, and her husband Sanjay, 38, who works at a plywood factory, now have ten daughters alongside the newborn, named Dilkush or Ishant. Sunita required a blood transfusion after delivery due to anaemia and a weakened uterus from 11 pregnancies, yet neighbors strung balloons and hired a DJ for celebrations at home.
Sunita recalls, "I never looked at girls and boys differently. But once I was holding a neighbour’s baby boy, and she snatched him away, thinking I would take him because I didn’t have a son." Her daughters, including 18-year-old Sarina and 13-year-old Sushila, longed for a brother to escape school taunts. Sarina says, "She [mother] has always been pregnant... Bhai ke saath masti alag hai [The fun with a brother is different]."
Sanjay insists, "None of this means I don’t love my girls." Community pressure was intense; neighbors mocked Sunita for having daughters to help with chores. Originally from Rajasthan, she faced relatives' contrasts during festivals like Raksha Bandhan.
Haryana's sex ratio at birth reached 923 in 2025 per civil registration, up from 879 in the 2011 census, though still below the national 917. Activist Sunil Jaglan notes, "Women face collective pressure." Doctor Karan Juneja warns of health risks from repeated childbirths. The daughters excel in dance, kabaddi, and kho-kho, but the fervor for the son's arrival stood out. Sunita, uneducated and married in 2007, says her family is now complete, though she hopes others avoid such endurance.