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I'm Liz Waid.
And I'm Joshua Leo.
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My new name is Sakshi.
It means witness.
I am 16 years old and I have just been named."
In October 2011, Sakshi officially received her new name.
Sakshi took part in a special renaming ceremony.
During the ceremony, 285 girls received new names.
Many people see this as a positive event.
They hope it will help the girls with new names to have better lives.
Today's Spotlight is on this ceremony.
We tell about the positive results it has already had in the lives of these girls.
Satara is a city in the state of Maharashtra, India.
Here, experts have been noticing a terrible thing.
Over the years, the number of girl children is getting smaller and smaller.
In fact, this is happening through the whole country of India.
But experts say the problem is even worse in some areas, like country areas far away from cities.
Zubair Ahmed reports that the ratio between boys and girls here is very low.
There are only 880 girls for every 1,000 boys.
What is happening to India's girls?
Many people in India want sons instead of daughters.
Sons can take part in particular parts of a parent's death ceremony.
But daughters cannot.
People believe that sons will grow up to bring money into the family.
A son can get a good job and support his parents.
But a girl usually costs a lot of money.
Traditionally, the parents must pay a large dowry for a girl to be married.
The parents must pay the dowry to the man their daughter is marrying and his family.
This dowry costs a lot of money.
Sadly, this means that many girls are unwanted.
Many parents may be sad about the birth of a girl.
In some extreme cases, the parents even kill the girl they do not want.
Parents with an unwanted girl may also neglect her.
They do not feed her enough or take care of her.
This leads to higher death rates for girl babies and young girls.
Many parents do not harm their girls in any way.
But they are still sad when another girl is born into their family.
If parents already have one or two daughters, they may wish for a son even more.
But when their next child is a girl, they are disappointed again.
Some parents in these cases decide to give their daughters names that mean unwanted.
This was the case with Sakshi.
Sakshi comes from a family of six girls and no boys.
She explains her family's situation to BBC reporter Zubair Ahmed.
All my life I was known as Nakusha.
That is the Marathi word for unwanted.
I understand why my parents did not want me.
They had three girls before me.
I was the fourth girl to be born to my parents.
Everyone here wants sons.
My parents named me Nakusha.
They believed this would end their bad luck and stop the birth of more girls.
But two more girls were born after me.
Sadly, this is an experience many girls in India share.
Parents name their unwanted girls names like Dagadi or Dondi.
These names mean stone, as if the girl is a heavy load the family has to carry.
Or, like in Sakshi's case, parents name their girls Nakushi or Nakusa.
These names mean unwanted.
Some government programs aim to change the way people think about girls.
Some programs offer support for families of girls.
They give free food or free education for the girls.
Some programs offer money if a girl completes enough years of schooling.
But changing people's opinions is a difficult and slow process.
Dr. Bhagwan Pavar is the district health officer in the district of Satara.
He has worked to change the negative opinions of girls in this area.
One way he hopes to do this is to get rid of names like Nakushi and Nakusa.
He believes this is an important issue.
He explained the negative results of these names to the AFP press service.
He says, Many of these girls we have found with names like Nakusa do not want their name.
They feel bad about it.
It influences how they feel about themselves.
In October 2011, Dr. Pavar helped organize a special ceremony.
The ceremony was for girls with names like Nakusa Unwanted.
Two hundred eighty-five girls took part.
On the day of the ceremony they dressed in their best clothes.
They wore decorations in their hair.
Each girl chose her own new name.
Many of the girls chose names of powerful women, like goddesses or Bollywood actresses.
Some chose names because of their beautiful meanings.
Their new names had meanings like beautiful, powerful, or strong.
Sakshi told Ahmed how she chose her new name.
My school friends helped me choose my new name, and I love it.
We considered Namrata and Nea, but I loved Sakshi.
It was a symbol too, since I was going to be a witness to a historic event and become a part of it too.
Dr. Pavar told the AFP that the renaming ceremony would change the girls' names legally.
At the end of the ceremony, government officials gave each girl a certificate, a piece of paper with her new name.
All school documents and official records with the girls' names were also changed.
Sakshi knows that her friends and family will have to learn to use her new name, but she does not mind.
She knows her new name has changed her life completely.
She told Ahmed I know I have to be patient because people are used to calling me Nakusha.
It will take some time for them to learn to call me by my new name.
But now I have a name and I feel good.
I feel like a new person.
I feel confident.
It will change my life forever.
But these good results are not only for the girls with new names.
Sudha Kankaria runs a local organization that helps girls.
She also helped to organize the renaming ceremony.
She explains that the ceremony is good for the girls of India today.
But it is also good for these girls' daughters.
Kankaria says the tradition will continue if people do not stop it.
She tells the AFP press service.
With this project, we are giving good results to two groups of people the Nakusas of today and the future Nakusas.
The writer and producer of this program was Liz Waid.
The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom.
All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.
You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net.
This program is called, New Names for Unwanted Girls.
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