IVF children give Parsis a new lease of life

Some 120 children born through ‘Jiyo Parsi’ fertility initiative since launch four years ago

Agovernment-funded IVF programme that aims to help save India’s shrinking Parsi community from extinction is delivering bundles of joy and controversy.

Some 120 children have been born through the “Jiyo Parsi” fertility initiative since it was launched four years ago in a bid to help reverse a dramatic decline in India’s Zoroastrian population.

The programme, which provides Parsi couples with free invitro fertilisation treatment, has been hailed a success by many in the influential community.

But critics say the scheme, which has also seen the launch of an advertising campaign effectively damning Parsis that are not having children, amounts to selective procreation and reinforces orthodox Zoroastrians views that Parsis should only have children with each other.

For Aspi and Persis Kamakhan from Mumbai, where most of India’s 57,000-odd Parsis live, it represented a unique opportunity to have a child after trying to conceive for twelve years. “We had lost all hope but Jiyo Parsi was a big blessing and completely changed our lives,” 38-year-old Persis, now mother to a 3-year-old girl, told AFP.

Parsis are Zoroastrians who first arrived in India more than 1,000 years ago after fleeing persecution in Persia. They follow the teachings of Zoroaster and worship in fire temples.

They became one of India’s wealthiest and most powerful communities, boasting a number of famous industrialists including the Tata, Wadia and Godrej families. But their population has been dwindling for decades. At the last census, in 2011, 57,264 Parsis were recorded in India.