The 7th billionth citizen

Nargis Yadav of Dauraha village on the outskirts of Lucknow was declared the symbolic seven billionth resident of the world on Monday. Nargis was born at :20am at Mall block’s community health centre to farmer couple Ajay and Vinita Yadav and weighed 3kg at the time of birth. Steering clear of making statistical claims of Nargis being the seven billionth individual on the earth, Plan International, the UK-based civil society organization behind the identification exercise, maintained that Nargis’ birth was more symbolic in nature. Executive Director, Plan India, Bhagyashri Dengle, said, “It is not possible for us or anyone to claim that one child is the seven billionth baby. However, since the United National Population Fund had estimated that the world’s population would breach the seven billion mark on October 31, we decided to celebrate the arrival of the first girl child at this health centre on this day and call her the seven billionth baby. Nargis is a symbolic child.” In 1999, the UN had designated Bosnian baby Lorrize Mae Guevarra as the world’s six billionth resident. This time, however, it decided not to weigh in, encouraging individual countries, instead, to identify their own “symbolic” seven billionth baby. As a result, news of the arrivals of several seven billionth children poured in from various corners of the globe, including at least three claims from within UP. To celebrate Nargis’ arrival as a milestone in the girls’ right to survive, Plan International, the only international organization involved in the endeavour, also identified six other girls, born between October 30 and 31, who will be sponsored by seven eminent woman ambassadors. “We wanted to maintain continuity with the digit 7. Five children who have been sponsored were born on October 30, while two were born on October 31. Nargis was the first baby girl born on the 31st,” Dengle added. In a formal ceremony organized by Plan India, Dr Ashok Mishra, CMO, Lucknow, handed over Nargis’ birth certificate to her father Ajay Yadav. Birth certificates of the other six children, identified as Shweta, Nisha, Mohini, Sangeeta, Manhika and Reeta, were also handed over to their fathers by sponsors and Plan India representatives.