Focus Areas > Declining
Child Sex Ratio
Sex ratio in India is getting more and more disproportionate
over the years. According to a recent report by the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls
and women are missing from India' s population as a result
of systematic gender discrimination in India. India’s
2001 census revealed an alarming downward trend in the
nation’s child sex ratio. Though the census figures
showed that the female sex ratio stood at 933 females per
1000 males, what was more troubling was the considerable
decline in the ratio among ages 0-6. This number had decreased
from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001. It is this continuous
decline that has contributed most to the overall diminishing
sex ratio in the country. Democratically, such a tragically
skewed imbalance in the sex ratio (especially in 0-6 years)
does not bode well for the future of the India.
The declining sex ratio in India cuts across all strata
and is as pronounced in metro areas as it is in small towns.
The menace is rampant most amongst the educated and the
affluent sections of the society. In order to ensure the
survival of the girl child, it is necessary to tackle both
the supply and demand sides of the issue. Because of the
concurrence of a strong cultural preference for sons and
the easy availability of technology to determine the sex
of a fetus in the contemporary age, sex selective abortions
have increased drastically. Statistics show that in the
last hundred years, 35 million females have gone “missing” from
the population.
In an effort to combat sex selective abortions, the Government
of India passed the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT)
Act in 1994. The act since been amended to include the
wording “Pre-conception” and now read the “Pre-Conception
and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex
Selection) Act 1994. Despite contention over the act’s
title, the act itself has yet to be effectively implemented.
There are lot of gaps in implementation of the act, as
the act is more focused on technology and medical professionals
and does not take care of the root causes which are socio
cultural in nature and issues like no separate manpower
for implementation of PNDT Act, the lack of job description
of doctors and staff, lack of monitoring & Supervision
in inspection work of genetic clinics and centers
It is not government alone that
can address this problem, though Government must be active
in mobilizing public opinion
in this regard. We need active civil society involvement
in the national campaign to save the girl child. There
has to be much greater focus on female literacy because
the adverse sex ratio that we have today has to be challenged
fundamentally in the minds of our people.
Female feticide
was adopted as a one of WPC’s priority
concerns and we work actively for the effective implementation
of the PCPNDT Act. After consultation with WPC members
and experts working on this issue, a set of recommendations
has been drafted which and submitted to Chief Ministers
and the Chief Secretaries of the affected states. The recommendations
include:
- The audit of birth registers at hospitals/clinics for
monitoring sex ratio trends
- The follow up of pending legal proceedings against
doctors, clinics and hospitals that have violated the
law by conducting selective abortions and pre-natal diagnostic
tests to determine the sex of the unborn children.
- Organizing awareness-generating programmes for stakeholders
at all levels within the state.
WPC has taken the following initiatives on this issue:
WPC delegates have met the Chief Minister of Haryana and Governor of Rajasthan to submit memorandums on this issue.
WPC conducted two regional meetings in March 2007 in the states of Punjab and Rajasthan on the issue of the declining sex ratio. During each of these meetings a set of recommendations was drawn for the respective state to ensure effective implementation of the PCPNDT Act. An action plan was devised to guide each state in lobbying efforts for establishing the stringent implementation of the Act at the state level.
A state level meeting was organized by the Punjab state chapter to titled ‘Understanding Different Approaches/Strategies for Bettering the Sex-Ratio in the Realm of Legal, Moral and Ethical Framework’.
WPC sent letters to the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Rajasthan requesting the effective implementation of PCPNDT Act.
WPC delegates met the Chief Minister of Haryana and Governor of Rajasthan to inform them of the sex ratio situation and present them with memorandums highlighting the recommendations made by women’s groups on this issue.
Letters have been sent to the secretaries of the Ministry of Women and Child Development in all the 30 states of the country, requesting adequate allocation of funds for proper implementation of the PCPNDT act.
National Level Experience Workshop, of the NGO partners in the project addressing decline in child sex ratio on 15-16 November, 2010.
A two-day national level experience-sharing Workshop for the Implementing Partners (IPs) was organized on November 15-16, 2009, by WPC in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). More than 50 participants representing 32 NGOs from 11 states attended the event and it was a wonderful opportunity for the IPs to share their experiences, challenges and also learn from each other. The workshop served as a platform for building alliances, coming out with new strategies and facilitating effective implementation of the PCPNDT Act.
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