It seems that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) has been focusing some of its energies on creating the ‘perfectly customised child’ with ‘uttam santati’ (sanskars of the highest order). According to a report in The Indian Express , RSS’ initiative, the Garbh Vigyan Anusandhan Kendra, which was established in Gujarat in 2015, claims to have already delivered 450 such babies. [caption id=“attachment_2672382” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] According to the report, this project of making these ‘super babies’ involves a 3-month-long “shuddhikaran” process: A purification process for the parents, where they indulge in sexual intercourse at specific times decided by planetary configurations. The parents will also maintain abstinence after the baby is born. Ashok Kumar Varshney, an RSS pracharak said that a university in Jamnagar, Children’s University in Gandhinagar and Atal Behari Vajpayee University in Bhopal have incorporated the “Garbh Vigyan Sanskar” in their teaching curriculum. Hitesh Jani, national convener of Arogya Bharati (RSS’ health wing) is quoted as saying in Times Now : “The parents may have lower IQ, with a poor educational background, but their baby can be extremely bright. If the proper procedure is followed, babies of dark-skinned parents with lesser height can have fair complexion and grow taller.” According to Jani, the concept of ‘customised babies’ comes from Hindu shastras. But Varshney claims that this advice was given by a woman to a senior member of the RSS about 40 years ago in Germany. And that’s not all. This woman was apparently called ‘Mother of Germany’. Arogya Bharati’s seminars and counselling sessions on ‘Garbh Vigyan Sanskar’ are quite controversial. According to a report in The Hindu , the Calcutta High Court questioned the scientific basis for these workshops on 5 May, in a PIL challenging the workshops. Nasib Khan, a law officer of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the organisation that filed the PIL, said that the Arogya Bharati representatives had gone back on their earlier statements about bearing ‘ideal children’.