Ban sex-selective
abortions
The twin
strategy of tracking sex-determined foetuses and requiring institutional
deliveries is expected to ensure that female babies are not aborted, or killed
at birth. India has been persistently failing to
address the problem of female foeticide but Maharashtra is believed to have come down severely on errant
doctors and clinics, which is significant given the likely impact the State’s
large population could have on child sex ratios. On a national average, the
number of girls for every 1,000 boys in this segment of the population dipped
to 918 in the 2011 decennial population Census. The corresponding figures were
927 and 933 in 1991 and 2001, respectively.
There are
reasons why mindsets are not changing. It is actually linked to many practices
our society is accustomed to. For example, gap between 'average age for getting
married' for a man and for a woman is huge. While men are usually allowed to
seek a job till 29-30, girls are married off much earlier. There is very less
emphasis on a girl's financial independence. Another practice is related to
sending off a girl 'compulsorily' to her in-laws house. Yet another practice is
changing surnames. Some 'revered' traditions include symbols like mangalsutra
and vermilion. These seem small things but are the things that actually matter.
It is a fallacy
in the Male dominated Indian mindset that Male child are preferred to a Girl
child. Would these people who resort to aborting female children prefer a
foolish idiotic and a moron boy with no intelligence compared to a Girl child
who can turn out to be brilliant and excel not only in academics, sports or any
field of activity. In fact there are several instances in families that the
Girls have outshone Boys in their chosen field of activity. In India it is myth
that boys carry their lineage. But what lineage are they talking about if he
becomes useless and proves to be a burden to his parents and society.
Another thing
is that in India, the vast majority of deliveries take place in homes in the
vast rural area where even the basic health facilities like maternity homes are
absent not to talk of the facility for sonography test required to determine
the sex of the foetus. This problem should also be addressed.
The issue
relating to killing female foetus is a social problem, but it can be fixed by
recourse to law and order methods, provided these were made to work. South
Korea witnessed a similar problem a few years ago, and then all of a sudden,
the government came down with full force, stripping famous doctors of their
licenses and throwing them in jail for years, creating an example. But in
India, none of these things would work. Doctors would not be named or
identified, and even if they were to, they would not be prosecuted, and if they
were, they would not be convicted. And people, especially in the Northern
plains will go on with this inhuman practice.
Now female
infanticide has reduced, though not drastically, but present thought of
legalizing sex determination, most probably will increase the infanticide rate,
as abortion is not a crime in India, as in Iran and other gulf countries. Sex
ratio is widening with fewer females for males, and that requires strict
implementation of PCPNDT Act, along with strengthening women empowerment
schemes and criminalizing various cultural discrimination against women, being
the reason for male child obsession in Indian families.
Preference for
a male child is so rampant in our country that sex determination test has
become a huge business for doctors who are unconcerned about ethic and wish to
make money. Therefore, if freedom is given to conduct sex determination test or
such test is made compulsory for all pregnant women, it will be very difficult
to punish those who misuse the test to kill the female foetus.
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