Child adoption in Bengaluru sees 72% rise between 2020-25: Study
Bengaluru: Child adoptions in Bengaluru have surged by nearly 72% over the past five years, from 2020–21 to 2024–25, according to data from the State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA) cited by Deccan Herald on Wednesday. Across Karnataka, the increase stood at around 20% during the same period.
The state currently has 21 government-run and 24 privately-run specialised adoption agencies.
Officials quoted in the report attributed the rise to growing awareness and acceptance of adoption among couples compared to previous years. However, they also highlighted a significant mismatch between the number of children available for adoption and the number of prospective parents waiting.
“There are currently close to 2,279 parents waiting to get a kid for adoption and there are only 27 normal kids and 55 special needs kids available for adoption. There is a huge gap and parents have had to wait a long time,” DH quoted Arundhati T.S., Deputy Director, State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA),as saying.
The minimum waiting period for adoptive parents is around two years, and it can extend further depending on their preferences. Arundhati explained that parents can choose two states based on their background or even cluster of states, like they can choose their preference as South India. As the number of states increases, the options they get also increases and this might reduce their waiting period.
An official quoted by DH further noted a gradual shift in adoption patterns. While most applicants are still couples unable to conceive, there has been an increase in unmarried people expressing interest in adopting and becoming single parents.
As November marks National Adoption Awareness Month, it has been observed that most adoptive parents prefer children under five, believing it helps in early bonding. The preference for gender remains evenly split, though officials have noted a steady rise in interest in adopting girl children in recent years.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
