Female foeticide: A shift in strategy needed

The decline in the country’s child sex ratio in the 2011 census data and abnormal birth sex ratio suggests persistence of female foeticide. In this context, we need to evaluate two aspects of our strategy to tackle this social problem. First, the effectiveness of governmental and non-governmental attempts to bring about a change in the norms of the Indian society, which still shows a preference for the male child. And second, an assessment of the PCPNDT Act, our main tool for preventing female foeticide.

Despite attempts of both the government and the civil society to bring about a behavioural change in the Indian society through awareness campaigns and education, preference for male child has persisted.

What’s most alarming is that education and income levels seem to bear only a weak correlation to decreasing female foeticide rates. Studies suggest that urban India, more prosperous and educated, may have higher rates of female foeticide due to easy availability of medical practitioners and facilities willing to perform the procedure. A shift in strategy is needed to address this problem.

A major flaw has been that we have been preaching to the converted. Government and civil society need to collaborate and move out to areas where male child preference is dominant. Government schemes and programmes have attempted to reduce the financial burden of raising a girl child through benefits but we need to bring about a change in values.

The status of the PCPNDT Act also needs to be addressed. It has been 20 years since the Act came into force but despite multiple Supreme Court judgments, its implementation record remains abysmal. From 2003 to 2014, only 206 doctors have been convicted under the Act and 15 states and union territories have had no convictions.

The state advisory committees set up under the Act rarely meet. All ultrasound clinics are required to be registered under the PCPNDT Act and maintain records of all the scans. However, this exercise is poorly monitored and defaulters are let off with just a fine. The Act has to be streamlined to have an impact on female foeticide.

In the absence of results, the tendency to overlegislate must also be avoided. Existing provisions must be implemented on the ground and supplemented with a programme that brings about a normative change in the society to protect the girl child.