Poor response to Mamatheya Thottilu; only two infants surrendered in cradles across the state in a year
The 'Mamatheya Thottilu' program in Karnataka, designed to provide safe surrender cradles for unwanted infants, has seen very low usage with only two infants surrendered in the past year. Officials attribute this to a lack of public awareness and fear of identity disclosure among parents.
Why it matters
The failure of this initiative highlights significant gaps in social welfare infrastructure and the persistent stigma surrounding child abandonment.
Despite encouraging people to safely surrender infants in Mamatheya Thottilu rather than abandoning them in garbage, buses, trains or other places, the programme has received poor response.
According to data, Mamatheya Thottilu has received only two infants in the past one year. One infant was in Tumakuru and the other one in Mysuru.
Arundhati T.S., Deputy Director, State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), said, “Two infants were found in Tumakuru and Mysuru. After a legal process involving the police, Child Welfare Committee, doctors and other stakeholders, the infants’ details were updated on the website to find potential parents for adoption. Parents who register on the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) portal can see the details of the infants.”
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in