Dahod: The Indian desire for a male child frequently leads to large families. For instance, take the case of 43-year-old Ramsinh Sangot of Jariburj village in Dahod, a tribal district in central Gujarat.

Sangot fathered 14 daughters in his quest for the elusive male child.His wife finally gave birth to a boy in 2013 after which the couple decided to have another child hoping it too would be a boy. But this time it was a girl.Sangot now has 15 daughters, one son and his wife is expecting again! Census 2011 data reveals that in Gujarat, which has a skewed child sex ratio of 886 girls per 1,000 boys, Sangot is not alone in his wish to have his wish to have many sons.

There are 8,000 families in Gujarat which have more than 10 children. Of these 8,000 families, 10 have only daughters while the rest have five or more girls. This despite the fact that in Dahod district, the child sex ratio is better --937 girls per 1,000 boys.

Living in a dilapidated mud house, Sangot owns two bighas of land but is better known for his large number of children.In the verandah of his house sleeps the newest addition to the family -three-month-old baby girl Smruta. The pride of the family-the two-year-old son, Vijay -can be seen playing with his sisters.

Sangot spends most of his time caring for his little ones.The family subsists on food grown by them and the income of his two daughters who work in Rajkot as farm labourers.

“I became desperate for a boy after the sixth daughter was born. The son would look after us in old age,“ said Sangot in justification. His wife, Kanu, said Sangot had even threatened to get another wife if she did not deliver a male child. Family planning teams advised sterilization but Sangot rejected the idea.

Of the 15 daughters, two have died while two Sevanta (17) and Niru (15) have been married off. Two -Saranga (14) and Hansa (13) -have been sent to Rajkot to work as farm labourers. The couple lives with the other eight daughters, namely Joshna (12), Ranjan (11), Meena (10), Payal (8), Moni (6), Hasina (5), Kinjal (4), Baijan (3) and Smruta (2.5 months).

