Enforce law strictly on female foeticide
The practice of female foeticide continues to thrive in India—sex determination is surreptitiously carried out and female foetuses are illegally aborted. One such racket was recently unearthed in Karnataka. A doctor and his lab technician allegedly performed around 900 such abortions over three years in a Mysuru hospital, charging ₹30,000 per case, while ultrasound scans were carried out at a jaggery-making unit in Mandya. The team has been arrested under the 1994 law that bans such practices. Three decades after the Act was passed, violation of which is punishable with a jail term of three to five years and a fine of ₹10,000-50,000, the medical community continues to indulge in this crime, catering to a society still steeped in patriarchy—caste, class and religion no bar.
Of the many reasons for female foeticide, the foremost ones are the fear of dowry and violence against women and the assumption of financial security in old age. More often than not, the upper echelons of society are obsessed with having a male child despite their claimed advancements in education and other social indices. India’s sex ratio at birth (females for every 1,000 males) stood at 933 in 2022-23, a rise from the all-time low of 896 in 2015-17. Overall, the all-India ratio for 2023 has increased to 943. But there is a partial North-South split—the sex ratio in Kerala is 1084, Tamil Nadu 995 and Andhra Pradesh 992; while Gujarat stands at 918, Uttar Pradesh at 908 and Haryana at 877. The skew underlines the regressive parochialism towards women in general. Karnataka’s ratio, at 968, is nothing to be proud of—cases of female foeticide are still common in Mandya and the backward districts of North Karnataka.
Female foeticide and infanticide are two of the earliest forms of discrimination against the girl child. It continues throughout her life in education, healthcare, work opportunities, wages and property rights. She is treated like a liability and has to make do with less, starting with food. This attitude is showing a worrying resistance to change despite Indian women having broken a number of glass ceilings. Society must realise that women today run companies and countries. Education and awareness are key, with stiffer penalties for violators. If half the population has to struggle for equity, it will slow down the whole nation’s progress.