Female feticide act

about female feticide, infanticide, vital statistics, factors ,laws against female feticide, government scheme, recommendations for NGO

1. FEMALE FETICIDE ACT RADHA

2. MEANING Female foeticide is a practice that involves the detection of the sex of the unborn baby in the womb of the mother and the decision to abort it, if the sex is detected as a girl. Female foeticide is the practice of sex selective abortions has taken over infanticide, the practice of killing children at birth.

3. INDIAN SCENARIO Female foeticide has been a common practice in our country since centuries. Indian Census has always shown a gender imbalance. S ex selective abortion is a fairly recent p henomenon , but its roots can be traced back to the age old practice of female infanticide. At that time, it was noted that there was a significant abnormal sex ratio of 940 women to 1000 men.

4. FEMALE FETICIDE IN INDIA The child sex ratio has dropped from 945 females per 1000 males in 1991 to 927 females per 1000 males in 2001 . Estimated that 50 million girls and women are ‘missing’ from India’s population because of termination of the female foetus . Female foeticide in India increased by 49.2%

5. SIGNIFICANT FACTORS CAUSING FEMALE FETICIDE The preference for boy in patriarchal society is so strong that many women choose to abort rather than give birth to a girl. Modern technology has the way to kill unwanted baby girls who are still in the womb .

6. There is also a religious faith that only male children can perform the last rituals for their parents. The women are forced to abort their female foetus owing to family pressure and also the practice of dowry is responsible for this. Physical insecurity of women. Lack of education and awareness .

7. FORMS OF FETICIDE AND INFANTICIDE

8. LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS The Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Pre Selection ( FASDSP), a broad forum of feminist and human rights groups was formed in 1984, and it has been lobbying for legislation to ban the practice. In 1988, the state of Maharashtra passed a n Act banning pre natal diagnostic practices.

9. On September 20, 1994 the Parliament had enacted the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, which came into force from January 1996. Later, the Act was amended with effect from February 14 2003 and was renamed as Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques ( Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act,1994 ( PCPNDT Act).

10. THE MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY ACT was enacted by the Indian Parliament in the year 1971 and came into force in 1972 . As per India’s abortion laws only qualified doctors , stipulated conditions , can perform abortion on a woman in an approved clinic or hospital .

11. THE DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT, 1961 Prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of a dowry, demanded or given as a precondition for a marriage. Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs. 5000.

12. Indian government has modified property inheritance laws and permitted daughters to claim equal rights to their parental property.

13. Ground Reality The ban on the government hospitals and clinics, at the Centre and in the states, making use of pre-natal sex determination for the purpose of abortion - a penal offence – led to the commercialization of the technology; private clinics providing sex determination tests through amniocentesis multiplied rapidly and widely.

14. ACTIONS TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT The administration, in addition to providing help to families which save the girl children has activated the Village Health Nurses (VHNs) to keep an eye on pregnant Women. The VHNs has also been asked to concentrate on reducing the infant mortality rate (IMR ).

15. A helpline has been installed at the camp office of the collector to obtain any information that could help to save the girl children. The Cradle Baby Scheme in Tamil Nadu, to curb the menace of female infanticide prevalent in certain parts of Tamil Nadu and to save the girl babies, “Cradle Baby Scheme” was first started by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the year 1992 in Salem district .

16. On March 8, 2006 the Governor of New Delhi launched a campaign against selective abortions . In Delhi along the situation is “becoming alarming”: only 814 girls are born for every 1000 boys in the capital .  U.P. government’s  ‘Mukhbir Yojana’ , launched in 2017. Under this scheme the government provides an incentive of up to Rs 2 lakhs to any person who would alert the state authorities regarding the involvement of any doctor or a medical staff in sex determination of the foetus and/or female foeticide.

17. Government Schemes Both the Centre and State governments have initiated a range of girl child welfare schemes with an object of changing the social attitude towards the girls and for their upliftment. Following are a few such schemes :- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao -  It is a central government scheme to save the girl child from sex- selective abortions and advance the education of girl children all over the country. Initially, the districts having low-sex ratio were targeted.

18.   Balika Samriddhi Yojana-  It is a scholarship scheme designed to provide financial aid to young girls and their mothers below the poverty line. The key objective of the scheme is to improve their status in society and improve the enrolment as well as retention of girls in schools .

19. CBSE Udaan Scheme- It is administered by the Central Board of Secondary Education through the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. This scheme focuses mainly on increasing the enrolment of girls in engineering and other technical colleges throughout the country.

20. Ladli Scheme Of Haryana-  It is a cash incentive scheme initiated by the Haryana Government that provides a pay-out of Rs. 5000 annually for a period of 5 years to families with a second girl child born on or after 20th August 2015. The money is deposited in a Kisan Vikas Patra . These deposits along with interest are to be released once the concerned girl child becomes a major .

21. Karnataka Bhagyashree Scheme-  It is a Karnataka government scheme designed to promote the birth of girl child among families below the poverty line . Health insurance cover up to a maximum of Rs. 25,000, is provided to the girl child, annually .

22. Sivagami Ammaiyar Memorial girl child protection scheme The scheme is being implemented to Promote family planning , eradicate female infanticide, promote the welfare of girl children in poor families and to raise the status of girl children. Scheme I for one Girl Child  - Rs.22,200/- Fixed Deposit Receipt in the name of girl child for the family which has only one girl child. Scheme-II for each girl child where the family has two girl children only  - Fixed Deposit Receipt for Rs.15,200/- for each girl child where the family has two girl children only.

23. Recommendations   However NGOs feel that in addition to providing the services of VHNs, the government should encourage local ‘ dhais ’ responsible for child birth in remote villages, by providing them an honorarium and sophisticated training to conduct delivery. Though the issue is a social one, it needs to be tackled accordingly the government should send a stern warning that those concerning female infanticide will not go unpunished .

24. A transformation of our gender society is necessary for the crimination of female foeticide. Volunteers have to be actively mobilized to monitor the registration and the functioning of the sex determination clinics in the districts. Effective alliances with ethical doctors have to be made from the local level .

25. Lobbying with political parties to put this issue on their agenda is imperative . A lesson on gender equity should be included in school curriculum. Organization and individuals with different priorities and ideological beliefs have to rally together to battle the powerful patriarchal forces operating within the institutions of the family government and civil society .

26. The campaigns to protect women and children from being kidnapped or sold should be effectively strengthened. There is a need for scientific research to investigate factors responsible for female foeticide . There is urgent need to initiate a vibrant, effective awareness campaign at various levels. This issue should also be discussed in the monthly meeting of Anganwadi .

27. Family planning programme should focus on effective public education, good counselling and service delivery, and the fully voluntary participation of the community and individuals to increase contraceptive prevalence, reduce unplanned pregnancies and minimize the need for an induced abortion. The media is an important agent of social changes. Media can create positive role models, and set examples on preventing his issue.