Population experts have revealed that female foeticide is increasingly being practiced by the educated upwardly mobile population of India. The educated people in the country consider sons as a source of wealth, and poverty is not the only reason for these selective abortions. This is happening in spite of selective abortions being made illegal in the country. The Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecological Societies of India’s (FOGSI) Behram Anklesaria has revealed that the ultrasound or sonography tests are being conducted by unqualified people also in this country.
The value of girl children is however realized by educated people in states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Since the enactment of legislation in 1996 seeking to bar pre-natal tests for sex determination, about 27,000 clinics having the technology have been registered.Satish Agnihotri, author of 'Sex Ratio Patterns in Indian Population' and an Orissa based bureaucrat, has found that the ‘epicenter of female deficit (in sex ratio) is essentially localized in prosperous urban and prospering rural areas. This is more so with education and prosperity coming together’. The instances are less where women are not just earning members but have moved outside the confines of their homes to earn a living.
At the government level, efforts are on by the national inspection and monitoring committee to get state governments and district authorities to be more active in implementation of the legislation banning the misuse of modern technologies for selective abortions.
Last month, five clinics in New Delhi were sealed for violating the law and for not maintaining proper records. To check the problem, the monitoring committee is keen to involve civil societies not only to prevent the practice, but also to create awareness about the alarming gender imbalance.
Edited (IANS)
