BENGALURU: With the Health Department in Karnataka registering only 79 cases under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 in the past 15 years since its inception for female foeticide and unregistered sonography centres, the reproductive and child health wing has initiated a month-long campaign to crackdown on scanning centres violating the law. The conviction rate under PCPNDT is very low as charges have been dropped in several cases for lack of evidence. According to data revealed by BJP MLC Ganesh Karnik during the zero hour on the floor of the house in the recently concluded Belagavi session, in 2015-16, the sex ratio went down from 917 to 898 female live births for every 1,000 male live births when compared with 2014-2015.
But Dr Ramachandra Bairy, deputy director, PCPNDT, said, “According to the census report, the sex ratio has improved from 946 to 948 for children aged between 0 and 6, and this is the only source we should be trusting as the sample sizes in other surveys are small like the National Family Health Survey.” Surveys like the Sample Registration Survey, Human Resources Management System show different figures. “There are 4,437 registered scanning centres in the State. In at least 10 to 15 cases, the doctors have paid monetary penalties but none of them were for female foeticide. It was for not maintaining records and minor errors,” Bairy said. With 41 cases disposed of, and 38 pending, one wonders why the department hasn’t conducted any operations with a decoy (sting operation); to which Bairy replies, “There is lack of evidence for that. If we get strong leads that sex determination is happening in a particular district we will have decoy operations there.”
“In the meeting with the health commissioner on November 25, it was decided that the number of teams that will be deployed for inspection will be based on the number of scanning centres in the district. For example, in Bengaluru Urban there is highest number of centres — at 1,800 — so we will have at least 10 teams doing the inspections,” he said. Anusuya B, an activist of the campaign Baale, who is also a part of the State Inspection and Monitoring Committee under PCPNDT said, “In the meeting with the Commissioner it was discussed how there are many centres in the state which officials have not visited even once, and in those cases where they have found violations FIRs haven’t been registered. Although district inspection and monitoring committees have been formed, not much action has been taken.”