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The Times of India, Nov 06, 2000
Female infanticide continues
unchecked, unheard
NEW DELHI: Shocking as it may sound, the age-old social evil of
female infanticide, which spreads across several parts of rural
India, seems to be showing no signs of a let-up.
In fact, it is an important factor contributing to the declining
sex-ratios at least in some parts of the country, and is no
longer confined to its 'original territory' of northern
provinces, but has emerged de-novo in the south.
But what baffles the experts and social workers, engaged in the
efforts to eliminating this criminal practice, is the reluctance
of even some of the educated to talk on the issue.
A look at the sex ratios in India proves that compared to 1901,
the census of 1991 shows only Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala
and Rajasthan having registered an increase in the number of
females per thousand males. Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh have shown the maximum decline in this ratio.
"This is due to the mentality that looks down upon the
female child as a burden. The fear of dowry on one hand, and
losing property in inheritance, on the other, are the major
irritants in acceptance of a girl child," say Dr Ami
Sengupta of the Delhi Science Forum (DSF).
The popular perception draws the girl child as a losing
proposition - only to be married to another family. That leads to
a natural dislike for girls, concludes Sengupta.
A number of factors, including neglect of female infants and
better healthcare to males might be one reason accounting for the
decline in sex ratio, experts said.
There are other factors responsible, too, for the lopsided ratio.
Experts feel that the most important of these are female
infanticide and foeticide, which are, unlike other countries,
very closely linked in our country.
To highlight the matter, a special leave petition was filed in
the Supreme Court recently, by the Centre for Enquiry into Health
and Allied Themes (CEHAT) and the Mahila Sarvangeen Utkash Mandal
(MASUM).
The petition draws attention "to the gross misuse of
reproductive technology in a society characterised by a strong
bias against the female child. Even as female infanticide is yet
to be eradicated, techniques have widened the gap in the already
skewed sex ratio."
Dr Venkatesh Athreya, head of economics department of the
Bharathidasan University in Tamil Nadu, the only state to have
concrete figures on the issue, agrees.
"The practice of female foeticide must necessarily be of
very recent origin, since the technology for identifying the sex
of the foetus has come into use in our country only recently. The
infanticide has a much longer history in India," Dr Athreya,
who has done extensive research on female infanticide in Tamil
Nadu notes.
"This shows that the path of development pursued by India
since independence have served to exacerbate inequality along
several dimensions. One such important one is gender
inequality," he says.
Female infanticide and foeticide have been notoriously prevalent
in north India, but there is also a noticeable trend of declining
sex ratios in the south as well, with the exception of Kerala,
observe experts.
Haryana has the lowest sex ratio in the country at 875 females
per 1,000 males. Neighbouring Punjab stands closer at 882.
The heinous practice of sex discrimination is not a secret
business now. And newspapers often carry advertisements by
private clinics offering sperm separation and sex selection
before conception.
A study released by the state resource centre of literacy
mission, Haryana, has shown that the transfer of reproductive
technology to India has had deleterious effects and its abuse
resulted in the reinforcement of patriachal values.
Women belonging to upper castes and wealthy landed families
interviewed for the study by Sabu George of CEHAT and Dr R.S.
Dahiya of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences
(PGIMS), Rohtak, admitted that they practised female foeticide.
The fight against female infanticide and foeticide can be carried
on only with total societal participation. It is an extreme and
reprehensible form of violence against women and is clearly
rooted in our patriachal socio-economic structure.
"Discrimination against the girl child has been seen more in
the intermediate class/caste, especially in communities which
have resources in the form of land and money, than in the poor
and lower caste families", says Sengupta.
"In the ultimate analysis, the fight against female
infanticide will have to be linked to the fight against the
dominant culture of patriachy, sanctioned and supported by
useless religious obscurantism", says Dr Athreya.
Any strategy to address and eliminate female infanticide, and its
latest form - foeticide - must, therefore, address the larger
issues of patriarchy and unequal development.
In the long run, only a broader and successful movement to
transform the structure and policies of our society in a
democratic direction can eliminate all forms of violence implicit
and explicit.(PTI)
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