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‘Change in mind-set crucial for arresting fall in child sex ratio'

JAIPUR: Experts addressing a media sensitisation workshop on decline in child sex ratio here on Wednesday laid emphasis on changing the societal mind-set giving an inferior status to women to stop sex determination tests and female foeticide. They expressed concern over the sex ratio of 883 girls against 1,000 boys in Rajasthan reported in the 2011 Census.

Journalists and activists taking part in the workshop noted that the sex ratio among children up to six years had registered a sharp decline during the past decade despite an increase in the literary rate. They suggested registration of newborn girls as one of the ways to establish their value in society.

Sriganganagar-based Shikshit Rozgar Kendra Prabandhak Samiti (SRKPS) organised the workshop in collaboration with Plan India, New Delhi, as part of the ongoing “Let Girls Be Born” Project. The project is generating awareness about sex ratio among different stakeholders.

SRKPS secretary Rajan Chaudhary said the number of missing girls worked out on the basis of 2011 Census figures had indicated that 304 girls in the desert State were killed before their birth everyday. Many of the 1,804 registered sonography centres in the State are reportedly involved in foetal gender tests.

Narain Bareth of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said the women being treated as a “commodity” was the result of consumerism and globalisation. “With women being subjected to all sorts of harassment, torture and discrimination, families find [an easy] way out by ensuring that girls are not born.”

A presentation made at the workshop threw light on the critical threshold on which Rajasthan is positioned vis-à-vis the number of girls up to six years in comparison with boys. It was pointed out that with the State Government having started legal measures, about 5,000 agents have been identified across the State for assisting in gender tests and foeticide. Development practitioner Kalyan Singh Kothari said policy planners should seriously reflect on the “alarming trend” of decline in sex ratio by 26 points in the past decade in comparison with 7 points in the 1990s. There was an urgent need to study socio-cultural, demographic and legal aspects of the issue, he added.

Referring to the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, the participants said the prosecuting agencies must produce clinching evidence to ensure conviction of guilty medicos and sonography machine operators. The legal process is currently under way in 183 cases registered under the Act.

The media persons also shared their experiences in coverage of instances of sex selective abortions and felt that decoy operations could effectively expose the doctors and para-medical personnel involved in the practice. Activists joining the deliberations suggested several steps to combat sex selection.

Sriganganagar was highlighted as the only district in the State where the sex ratio has registered a marginal increase by four points from 850 in 2001 to 854 in 2011.

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