Mother And child

She has the right to be a guardian.
Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Choudhry has the support of The and Tribune and all right-thinking people for her plan to make it obligatory to mention the names of both parents in all the certificates of a child.The issue cropped up over denial of passport to a teenage girl in Mumbai because she refused to mention the name of her biological father in passport application.The passport officer didnot accept her mother's name as a substitute for her father's name.Since her father had never communicated with her since the day she was born, she thought it justified to leave his name out. She was brought up by her mother with whom she lived even at the time she applied for a passport.It is a measure of patriarchal nature of our society taht the passport office told her she could mention the name of her foster father, but not her mother.
The passport office should have been satisfied with the mother's name.The problem would not have arisen if the girl's certificates mentioned the name of her mother also.In any case, the law has to change in the light of sweeping changes in society. With the divorce rate going up and living-in relationships becoming common in cities, children are the worst sufferers.Society has a responsibility to make their life easier by doing away with cumborsome procedures.Courts have passes decrees in divorce cases that mothers are the natural guardians. In a mojority of such cases , the custody of child is given to the mother.Yet, passport offices insist on the father's consent if a mother enjoying the guardianship of thechild applies for a passport on her behalf.
The supreme court had in the Gita Hariharan case ruled that the mother should be given equal rights as a natural guardian.It ruled against the argument that this was contrary to the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act on the ground that Parliament would not have passed the act in 1956, if it had transgressed the principles of equality of sexes contained in the Constitution, which came into force full 6 years earlier. It will be a furtherance of these progressive rulings if the minister succeeds in her attempts to make it obligatory mention the names of both parents in a child's certificate.

P.s. Don't I remember having a tough time filling up forms.
P.s.I just try to post editorials or articles related to the issue . This one is a Tribune edotorial.