The Planning Commission has cleared a scheme to sponsor fertility treatment for Parsis to arrest their dwindling numbers — the first such allocation for any community in the country.
The panel has set aside Rs 2 crore as budgetary allocation for the first year of the 12th Plan period (2012-17).
According to the scheme, the government will bear the cost of the treatment for childless married couples but both have to be Parsis. If a Parsi girl weds outside the community, her child is not included in the fold…. However, if a Parsi boy weds a non-Parsi girl, their child is accepted as a Parsi.
About 30 per cent of Parsis remain single, while another 30 per cent is above 60. To make matters worse, the death rate within the community is three times the birth rate.
The community, mostly concentrated in Mumbai, Gujarat and Calcutta, numbers just 60,000, according to the 2001 census.
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