The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is suggesting that single women and men be allowed to have babies through in-vitro fertilization.

The suggestion is contained in the guidelines formulated by the ICMR to regulate infertility clinics in the country.

The move is seen as an acknowledgement of lesbian and gay rights, a radical gesture in a largely conservative society. Under Indian laws, homosexuality is a crime, and it will be interesting to see how the contradiction between the Indian Penal Code and the new guidelines will be resolved.

Dr Kamini Rao, an expert on the team that drafted the document, told Times of India that homosexual relationships were “a reality,” which Indian society would have to cope with.
   

“It’ll help people like young widows and widowers who’re childless. We need to see this provision from a holistic angle,” Rao said and revealed a lot of debate took place among the drafting commitee members on the issue.

 “It would now be put in the public domain for a month to elicit views from the public. From there, it’ll go to Parliament,’’ Rao said.

The draft guidelines are currently with the department of Health and would soon be submitted to the Law ministry. Following this, a bill to regulate infertility clinics would be presented before Parliament for enactment.

Homosexual relationships are an evolving area in the country, said Kamini Rao who is also the medical director of the Bangalore Assisted Conception Centre, in southern India.