No girls, please, we're Indian

[Indian now has the dubious distinction of being known as the country that
likes to ensure that girls are never born. We are facing a national
emergency, an 'epidemic that will have far-reaching social consequences,
says KALPANA SHARMA].

IN the 1980s, it was a suspicion. In the 1990s, it was a near certainty. In
2001, it became indisputable fact. India may be known for many things but it
now has the distinction of being known as the nation that likes to ensure
that girls are never born. The 2001 census figures of the 0-6 years sex
ratio are a stark illustration of this reality. We are facing a national
emergency, an epidemic that will have far-reaching social consequences.

The adult sex ratio in India has been declining for several decades. That
itself was reason for concern. But the sharp decline in the child sex ratio
in the last decade from 945 to 927 is a devastating indictment of our
society. Sex-detection and sex-selective abortions are today spreading like
an infectious disease, from the rich to the poor, from the upper castes to
the Scheduled Castes (SC) and even to the Scheduled Tribes (ST). No one
wants girls anymore. Eliminate them now instead of dealing with the problems
of raising a girl, goes the thinking behind the deadly actions.

In just two States


At a recent seminar in Delhi organised by Action India and the Nehru
Memorial Library, the Census Commissioner, Dr. J. K. Banthia presented a
visual horror story. He showed maps graded in different colours according to
the 0-6 sex ratio. The growing number of districts where the 0-6 sex ratio
has fallen be low the 800 mark was deep red. And the reds were popping up in
every State, in ever greater numbers.

The "Top of the Pops", so to speak, the districts with the worst child sex
ratio were all in Punjab and Haryana, two of India's wealthiest States. The
worst of these 10 was Fathegarh Sahib in Punjab with a child sex ratio of
just 766. And the best of the worst was Gurdaspur, also in Punjab, with 789.
What a range - 766 to 789 and all within two States. The other eight
districts were Kurukshetra and Sonipat in Haryana and Patiala, Ambala,
Mansa, Kapurthala, Bhatinda and Sangrur in Punjab.

The districts with the best child sex ratios were divided between Arunachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chhatisgarh, Orissa and Sikkim. East Kameng in
Arunachal Pradesh had a child sex ratio of 1035 (that is 1,035 girls to
every 1,000 boys) while North Sikkim, at the bottom of the list had a child
sex ratio of 995. The national average is 927.

In the 1980s, when women's groups first exposed the use of technology,
devised to detect genetic abnormalities, to determine the sex of the child,
only a few people were alarmed. The media was virtually unresponsive. The
problem seemed restricted to the metros. We thought that only the better off
could afford the technology. No one expected that within two decades,
sex-detection techniques would become so widespread, and affordable, that
they would be available all over the country with devastating consequences
on the child sex ratio. What is more alarming is that the disease of
sex-selection is not restricted to certain castes and classes. Dr. Banthia's
latest figures revealed that even among the SCs and STs, where the average
child sex ratio has always been higher than in the general population and
better than the national average, it has begun to dip substantially. Thus
while in 1991, the child sex ratio for STs was 985 (against a national
average of 945), in 2001 it had fallen to 973. And amongst SCs, the figures
were 946 in 1991 and 938 in 2001.

A madness catching on


In 1991, not a single district in India had been recorded with a child sex
ratio of less than 800. In 2001, there were 14. In 1991, only one district
recorded a child sex ratio of between 800-849. In 2001, this number had
risen to 31. At the other end of the spectrum in 1991, 21 districts had a
child sex ratio of over 1,000. In 2001, only five districts were in this
range. In other words, while the number of districts with abysmally low
child sex ratios is increasing, the number with higher than average child
sex ratios is declining. The madness is catching on.

There is now substantial data that reveals that private as well as
government facilities are used for sex-selective abortions despite the law
that prohibits it. Government doctors admit that there is no way they can
ens ure that a woman who comes to them for an abortion has not already
detected the gender of the foetus. Reports have also shown that apart from
abortions, if a female child is born despite all efforts to ensure that this
does not happen, the baby is abandoned at the doorstep of hospitals. This
has been documented in Punjab.

What are we to do about this problem? Surveys in Haryana and Punjab have
revealed that some women genuinely believed that if their numbers decline,
their value would increase because men will not find brides. Instead, men
are buying brides from other States for as little as Rs. 5,000 (in Haryana a
buffalo costs Rs. 40,000). These women are available to all the men in the
family. Instead of being valued, women are now becoming targets of violence
in districts with the lowest sex ratios.

Education makes no difference

There is also an a ssumption that education and economic independence will
ensure that women assert their rights, including their right to reproductive
choice. But a survey by Action India of women in Delhi revealed that even
highly educated women have resorted to as many as eight abortions to ensure
that they only give birth to a son. In this country, education and economic
progress seem to make no dent on attitudes. On the contrary, these are
getting more embedded.

Government intervention has been in the form of a law that is inadequate and
poorly implemented. Furthermore, in its desire to curtail the growth of the
population, the government has been pushing the two-child norm. Women's
groups argue that the combination of son preference and the two-child norm,
and the widespread availability of sex-detection techniques, will ensure
that fewer girls will be born in the future.

Son preference, sex selection, female foeticide, whatever we want to c all
it, is a damning indictment of India in the 21st Century. Men, women,
doctors, nurses, health workers, the media, and the government - we are all
involved. We boast of our prowess in IT. Yet technology is being used in
this country to fashion a future without women, or with very few of them. Is
this progress?
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Source: The Hindu(Mag). 29 August, 2004.p.I