Correcting Inhuman Behavior
Monitors put on Ultrasound Machines in India to prevent female geodetic
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Female Fetid (or geodetic is the act of aborting a fetus because it is female. This is a major social problem several countries, including India.
How is it apparent.
Abnormal sex ratios at birth, possibly explained by growing incidence of sex-selective abortion, have also been noted in some other countries outside South and East Asia. According to the 2011 CIA World Fact book countries with more than 110 males per 100 females at birth also include Albania and former Soviet republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. A 2005 study estimated that over 90 million females were "missing" from the expected population in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea andTaiwan alone, and suggested that sex-selective abortion plays a role in this deficit.
India's position
India's 2011 census shows a serious decline in the number of girls under the age of seven - activists believe eight million female fetuses may have been aborted between 2001 and 2011. Sex-selection practices also occur among some South Asian immigrants in the United States: A study of the 2000 United States Census observed definite male bias in families of Chinese, Korean and Indian immigrants, which was getting increasingly stronger in families where first one or two children were female. In those families where the first two children were girls, the sex ratio of the third child was observed to be 1.51:1 in favor of boys.
Doctors roles in letting this crime prosper
Foetal sex determination and sex selective abortion by medical professionals has today grown into a Rs. 1,000 crore industry (US$ 244 million). Social discrimination against women and a preference for sons have promoted . According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group in India went from 104.0 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to 107.8 in 2001, to 109.4 in 2011. The ratio is significantly higher in certain states such as Punjab and Haryana (126.1 and 122.0, as of 2001).his process began in the early 1990’s when ultrasound techniques gained widespread use in India. There was a tendency for families to continuously produce children until a male child was born. The Government initially supported the practice in order to control population growth. The Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act was passed in 1994, making sex-selective abortion illegal. It was then modified in 2003 holding medical professionals legally responsible. However the PCPNDT Act has been poorly enforced by authorities.
Social effects.
Female feticide has also led to an increase in human trafficking. In 2011, 15,000 Indian women were bought and sold as brides in areas where feticide has led to a lack of women.
Fighting back
Increasing awareness of the problem has led to multiple campaigns by celebrities and journalists to combat sex-selective abortions. Aamir Khan devoted an episode of his show Satyamev Jayate to raising awareness of the issue. A sting operation by two journalist, revealing hundreds of doctors were complicit in this illegal act. The trial of these doctors is currently underway in Rajashtan circa 2012.
In a recent landmark judgment the Mumbai High Court upheld an amendment to the PCPNDT Act banning sex selection treatment. The Court pronounced that "pre natal sex determination would be as good as female foeticide. Pre-conception sex determination violated a woman’s right to live and was against the Constitution."
Results
1. Lakhanpal, a small village in Punjab has turned the tide, with 1,400 girls for every 1000 boys.
2. Arvind Kumar, an official in the Hyderabad district enforced the PCPNDT Act after taking over in 2004. He investigated all 389 diagnostic clinics in the city and took action. 361 ultrasound scan centres were issued notices for non-compliance with the PCPNDT Act and the licenses of 91 centres were cancelled.
3. The Khap panchayats in Haryana, because of the worse sex ratio in the country, looking for ways to solve the problem of female geodetic have condemned the offence and ruled that it should be treated at par with murder.
It was a first of sorts in the history of Khap panchayats in north India. Seldom seen together, women and men came together in Jind, Haryana to take the unanimous decision and declare openly that female foeticide was as gruesome as murder. Perhaps 10 years ago, women sitting in a Khap panchayat would have been an unthinkable sight. Also unthinkable would have been the sight of women speaking forcing all to not just listen but also understand. Certainly, the times are a changing.
4. A recent BBC News interview showed a doctor in India doing ultrasounds
with mothers.
Behind him on the wall was a large sign Disclosure of sex of fetus is prohibited under law. But the 2003 law has been largely ignored, with doctors colluding with mothers wanting to identify baby girls before birth so they can abort them. The report showed a new device called the Silent Observer which records all use of the ultrasound units and uploads it onto a government website where it can be monitored. Further research yielded a report on this initiative which requires all ultrasound centres in the Indian state of Maharashtra to install and use the Silent Observer and requires online reporting and uploading of the testing done with the ultrasound – a sort of spy in the clinic, to deter doctors from facilitating female geodetic.
5. This ‘Save the Baby Girl’ project is to be welcomed as a step in right direction towards equality of
treatment of baby girls in India before and after birth.
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