February 10, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 21, 1428

RNGI (India): A move by a tribal council in an Indian state to reward tribeswomen who bear more than a dozen children with cash has infuriated feminists and health officials.

The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHDAC) in Meghalaya state, worried that “non-tribals” may outnumber the Khasi community in coming years, wants tribeswomen to produce more babies.

“The only way we can ensure dominance in our own land is through producing more children,” Hispreachering Son Shylla, a male member of the KHDAC's chief executive, said on Friday in Meghalaya's capital, Shillong.

This had local feminists seeing red. “A woman's body is not a baby-making machine,” said Hasina Kharbhih, a leading woman activist in Meghalaya. Health experts say the council's move is dangerous.

“Making a woman bear so many children is like pushing the mother and her children to virtual death,” said an official of the U.N.'s children agency, UNICEF, asking not to be identified.—Agencies