Dear supporter, We learned the other day that the Ministry of Women and Child Development in India, in its affidavit recently filed in the Indian Supreme Court, said, “It is respectfully submitted that at present there is no official data or study (by NCRB etc) which supports the existence of FGM/C in India.” Sahiyo is appalled that the Ministry did not acknowledge the existence of Female Genital Cutting in India. Survivors have been speaking out and sharing their stories for years, and have even met ministry officials too! In early December at the 'We The Women Asia' held in Mumbai, two survivors in India spoke about their own experiences of undergoing FGC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKS_R_-zBLE&t=9s In fact, governments in other countries are even acknowledging the existence of FGC, in the last few months, much attention has been given to FGC occurring in Sri Lanka. This submission in the Indian Supreme Court comes after the ministry has met with survivors and after the ministry made claims that state governments would be advised about punitive action against FGC. Our questions is shouldn't the government have initiated a study to gather official data on the prevalence of FGC by now? Sahiyo's independent survey last year found that 80% of Dawoodi Bohra women from around the world have been subjected to Female Genital Cutting. We now ask the government to proactively take up the responsibility of doing an official study on FGC in India. To our supporters, we ask that you please share this petition with your own networks to help us draw more attention to the need for a study in India and other Asian countries. Thank you for taking the time to read our update and share the petition with your networks!