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This is Commonly known fact that the parents construct the child biologically, while the child constructs the parents socially. The problem however arises when the parents are unable to construct the child through the conventional biological means. Infertility is seen as a major problem as kinship and family ties are dependent on progeny. Here surrogacy comes as a supreme saviour. Surrogacy- Meaning & types: The word ‘Surrogate has its origin in Latin ‘Surrogatus’ meaning a substitute. Thus, a surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child on behalf of another woman. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, surrogacy means the process of carrying and delivering a child for another person. The new Encyclopedia Britannica defines ‘Surrogate motherhood’ as the practice in which a woman bears a child for a couple unable to produce children in the usual way. There are two types of Surrogacies- 1.Traditional Surrogacy/Natural Surrogacy/ Partial Surrogacy – A pregnancy in which a woman provides her own egg, which is fertilized by artificial insemination, and carries the foetus and gives birth to a child for another person. The child that results is genetically related to the surrogate and to the male partner but not to the female partner. 2. Gestational surrogacy/ Total surrogacy -A pregnancy in which one woman (the genetic mother) provides the egg, which is fertilized, and another woman (the surrogate mother) carries the foetus and gives birth to the child. Thus, the child is not genetically linked to the surrogate. Surrogacy may be commercial or altruistic depending on whether the surrogate receives financial reward for her pregnancy or the relinquishment of the child, or not.

Gerard Pradeep Devnath & Senthil Kumaran¹ (2020) in their study found that India has emerged as a surrogacy capital and destination for couples from different countries, in the past two decades. Fertility clinics operating across India, offering artificial insemination, IVF and surrogacy services to Indian citizens and foreign couples have increased dramatically. With the boom in surrogacy, there are increased instances of complex legal and ethical issues. Incidents of unethical practices such as exploitation of surrogate mothers, selective breeding, abandoning of children have increased. The study also highlights the various case scenarios in India and the timeline of various regulations brought by the government of India to regulate surrogacy services. S.S. Das² (2014) in his study found Surrogacy Super Mart prevalent in India. It also discussed various moral and ethical issues related to surrogacy. Yasmine Ergas³ (2013) has examined the vicissitudes of the Balaz twins as emblematic of the filiation and citizenship issues that the international market in commercial surrogacy raises. It also explores possible approaches to the conflicts among legal systems that underlie the Balaz case, whether through individual contracts or treaties. Amita Pandey⁴ (2020) has used a multi-scalar approach to understand the full repercussions of a national ban on the transnational practice of surrogacy in India. She has used her ethnographic findings to analyse the effects of the ban on the local and the national. At the level of the local she revisits a surrogacy clinic and hostel in India, after a decade of her first ethnographic research, to argue that despite the legal upheavals, not much had changed for the gestational mothers themselves. The rigid discipline structure and the ambiguities around contract, payment, and post-natal care remain intact. There is, however, a noticeable dissipation in the gestational mothers’ demands for change in part due to a management’s strategy of manufacturing consent and loyalty. At the national level as India moves from specializing in babies ‘Made in India’ to ‘Make in India’, its role in the reproductive assembly line is transformed, with repercussions for gestational mothers. She has also proposed an alternative to the current debates by offering surrogacy as a praxis for opening up discussions about feminisms and transnational feminisms.

              Surrogacy is not new to mankind and surely not new to India. Our ancient Hindu Scriptures stand testament to the fact that surrogacy has been very much existent in India. We could easily connect the thread of the scientific achievement of surrogacy to its existence in the Indian Mythology even before the scientific intellect could fathom it and prove its existence. The best example of Gestational surrogacy would be the story of the birth of Balarama (the reincarnation of the snake God and the brother of Lord Krishna) who was, with the internal potency of the Lord, known as Yogamaya, miraculously transferred from the womb of Devaki to Rohini Devi, to save him from being killed by his cruel uncle (Mama). If seen scientifically then Vasudeva, Devaki’s husband, would be the sperm donor, Devaki the egg donor and Rohini the Surrogate, very clearly establishing Gestational surrogacy. Similarly, chapter 16, Genesis, in the Bible speaks of Abraham and Sarah. It mentions that sarah had experienced infertility, and asked her handmaiden, Hagar, to carry a child for her and Abraham⁵.

Surrogacy in Modern India

              Oct 3,1978 was the turning point in the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART) when Kanupriya alias Durga took birth as first IVF issue of India ranking only second to the world's. In recent years, India has attracted the attention of issue mongering western world for commercial surrogacy. Estimates for the value of this industry range from Rs 20 billion to 2.3 billion US dollars⁶. Until recently, absence of any cohesive legislation to regulate surrogacy industry, has boosted the idea of India as an emerging centre for medical tourism. Until recently the small Gujarat town Anand, well known for its milk products, has been rapidly put itself on the global map as the most fertile ground for ‘surrogacy tourism’. All evidences suggest that the phenomenon has now spread from cities to smaller towns in India, with many of the centres calling themselves in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics to avoid public scrutiny. SAMA, a resource group for women and health has cast a studied aspersion on celebration of the ‘miracle of science’ in the form of commercial surrogacy in India. As per the observation by SAMA, ARTs are recent and fast-growing addition to India’s medical market and tourism sector. Their unregulated proliferation over last few years has raised serious issues of safety, ethical practice, costs, and rights.

         There are many factors that why India until recently has been a favourable destination for foreign customers of surrogacy. First, the usual amount paid to surrogate mother in India is around 25,000 to 30,000 US dollar which is around 1/3^rd of that in developed countries like the USA. Second, with comparison to western society Indian women are very minimally stricken with smoking and drinking. Third, there was no cohesive rule to regulate surrogacy here etc.

Legal position of Surrogacy

                Surrogacy is not a worldwide fertility option. It has been rejected by voters in Sweden, Spain, France and Germany; for instance, commercial surrogacy has been banned in France, where in 1991 its apex court ruled that "the human body is not lent out, is not rented out, and is not sold"⁷. Even in the countries that do allow it, including South Africa, the UK and Argentina, independent ethics committees are employed to evaluate surrogacy requests on a case-by-case basis. In the US, norms and regulations often vary widely among states. Commercial surrogacy is legal in some states such as California, illegal in others and is subject to different regulations at other places.

            As far as the surrogacy rules of India are concerned, until recently, there has been no law concerning surrogacy in India, which has been legal since 2002. In 2006, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has laid down certain guidelines for clinics practicing artificial reproductive technologies (ART) and their handling of surrogates. After the direction of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, in February 2008, the Indian Ministry of women and child Development proposed legislation (ART Bill, 2008) to govern surrogacy, which was pending for a long time in the Ministry of law and Justice⁸. In 2009, the Law Commission of India has brought out a report on surrogacy and the urgent need for regulation entitled, "Need for legislation to regulate assisted reproductive technology clinics as well as rights and obligations of parties to a surrogacy". In 2013, the surrogacy by foreign homosexual couples was banned⁹. The surrogacy (Regulation) act, 2021 passed by the parliaments (the bill has been long pending) finally received assent of the president of India on 25^thDecember,2021. This act bans commercial surrogacy in India.

Ethical Dimensions of Surrogacy

                The values cherished by Indian society make it distinct and different from the western one. The concept of maternity and womb is altogether different from the west. Maternity in India has inherent relation with the sanctity and wholesomeness of women and the womb is similarly related with debt, duty and salvation. Contrary to other societies maternity and womb in India cannot be treated as matter of individual autonomy of women and pleasure. Feminists have plane argument that women must have the right to choose her own life-style as well as sexual and reproductive freedom. Not denying the fact proposed by feminists, all the business that is going on in the name of surrogacy in Anand and other small towns calls for a critical analysis under feminist Ideology itself. So far as Indian society vis à-vis the business of surrogacy is concerned, many still haunt for viable answers. How can the issue of independent life-style as well as sexual and reproductive freedom can pass the ethical and moral tests in the light of low educational opportunity, dependency on male, self-effacing attitude in favour of male members and the common living within the fences of joint and extended families?

              The next issue is related with the surrogacy (Regulation) act 2021.In last two decades the jurisprudence around the right to equality, women’s livelihood and choice have changed drastically, yet the present act does not take them into account. Second, although, SAMA¹⁰, the resource group for poor women & health has cast a studied aspersion on celebration of the ‘miracle of science’ in the form of commercial surrogacy in India. As per the observation by SAMA, ARTs are recent and fast-growing addition to India’s medical market and tourism sector. Their unregulated proliferation over last few years has raised serious issues of safety ethical practices, costs, and rights. The long-cherished bond between mother and child, the poor woman’s exploitation out of poverty and penury are some of the issues of vital concerns.

1. Gerard Pradeep Devnath & Senthil Kumaran; Surrogacy in India: Ethical and Legal Aspect; Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, 14(4): 386-92 2. Das, S.S. & Priyanka Maut; Commercialization of Surrogacy in India: Acritical Analysis; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281710247; January 2014 3. Ergas, Yasmine; Emory International Law Review > Vol. 27 > Iss. 1 (2013) 4. Pandey, Amita of the ban; Revisiting surrogacy in India: domino effects; Journal of Gender Studies 30(1):1-11; October 2020 5. Surrogacy (pro creation to co creation), http:// labourlawpraction ersassociation.com/ surrogacy.aspx 6.The Hindu, Allahabad, oct 30,2012 7. Anuj Chopra, “childless couples look to India for surrogate Mothers,” Christian Science Monitor, 3 April 2006, http://www. Csmonitor.com/2006/0403/po1s04-wosc. 8.The reply from the Legislative Department, Ministry of law and justice dated 19th July 2012 under Right to Information Act, 2005. http: www.indiansurrogacylaw.com/blog/2012/08/assisted reproduc. 9. Daily Telegraph, 18January 2013, ‘India bans gay foreign couples from surrogacy. 10.Guest post by SAMA (http://www.samawomenhealth.org/), a resource group for women and health.