Birth Agni
This Podcast explores how indigenously Birth has always unfolded, among women - our tribe, where children could see how breastfeeding was done and how birth happened. This an attempt to fetch the stories of the past as well as bring out the new India’s Birth culture to expose the defining features in both. This shall join the dots to where the increasing problems of postpartum anxiety, rising rate of surgical births and poor breastfeeding outcomes are coming from.
Birth Agni - Agni meaning Fire, the Fire that brings us alive, transforms us and has the ability to burn. Birth is designed to affect a woman’s integrity. It is the fire of awakening that makes her life experience wholesome. Deep down her body knows what Birth is supposed to feel - a euphoria of bringing a new life on Earth. The cocktail of hormones are designed to give her a high.
However, birth today has quickly swayed away from a phase of joy to the one marked by Fear, the constant questioning of a woman’s capacity to Birth naturally and the ugly calculation of the odds of a healthy baby at the expense of the mother’s health. We forget that their health is interlinked and flourish as a dyad. In India, the urban rate of Cesarean Sections on an average until 2020 is a whopping 40% which is concerning.
Birth is linked to Patriarchy, Healthcare Politics and Women’s Rights. Respect in Birth is long due to women and it affects the core of who they are.
Join me Divya Kapoor, a Certified Birth and Lactation Counselor and aspiring Traditional Birth Attendant in the quest to shine light on what we can do as parents and a community to change the narrative.
Birth Agni
#132 - The uncomfortable truth behind the current condition of the Indian Maternal System with Dr Uplabdh
What’s really driving birth practices in India today? In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the Indian medical system—where convenience often takes priority over physiology, and where C-sections are rising not always because of necessity, but because they fit better into hospital schedules. We also explore how the ancient wisdom of our traditional dais—the original birth workers—is being ignored in the new midwifery models, and what that says about who gets to define "modern" care.
This is a conversation about over-medicalisation, missing voices, and the uncomfortable truths behind what we call “safe” birth today. If you're a parent-to-be, birthworker, or just someone who wants to understand the deeper layers of our system, this episode is for you.
About the Guest: Dr. Uplabdh Gopal is a medical doctor and health policy researcher at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). His work spans healthcare systems, medical technologies, and regulatory reform, with a focus on innovation and equity. He has contributed to national and global dialogues on Universal Health Coverage, health resilience, and digital health.
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