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Rajasthan sees a surge in female foeticide Jaipur, Oct 22: It appears that the sex ratio of girls to boys is falling so rapidly in India that down the years, boys would find it hard to get brides. That might be a tad exaggerated, but one cannot ignore the danger signal blinking on the country's demographic profile. A health ministry report says that the number of girls per 1,000 boys has come down to almost 900. Stringent laws to check female foeticide have been in place for almost a decade. But the inhuman practice is rampant in Rajasthan. Sex selective abortion is a sought after solution to what is considered to be the ordeal of raising and marrying off a girl. Even in remote villages, women approve of pre-natal sex determination. "If we have a boy then there is hope that once he grows up he will take care of us and earn for the family. If we have some debt also then he can repay it. But with the girl we will have to incur debt when we get her married off. That is why lots of people do away with the girls during pregnancy," said Ratni, a resident of a lower class household. Habib, another resident, said that the diminishing number of girls could lead to an increse in the number of rape cases. "If such a situation continues then rape cases will increase. We suggest that female foeticide should not be done and we should protect them," said Habib. Rajasthan has had a long history of female infanticide - of girls poisoned, suffocated, drowned or left to die. In the early 19th century, British colonel Alexander Walker recorded his horror at seeing a mother drowning her newborn girl in a trough of milk. But now abortion of female foetuses or "female foeticide" has become common with the easy availability of pre-natal sex tests. While such tests, costing as little as 600 rupees, are illegal, the law is regularly flouted and clinics offering sex tests flourish across the country. Portable ultrasound machines mean the tests can be done in remote areas. "After a law preventing female foeticide came into force five years ago, we find a board reading `no pre-natal test is done here'. But these nursing homes (clinics) are the ones which carry out most of the female foeticide," said Kamal Kishore, secretary of Jan Kala Sahitya Manch, a voluntary organisation. The 2001 census was a clear indicator of the fact that people of Rajasthan preferred a boy child. From birth to six years of age, there were 909 girls for 1,000 boys, down from 916 girls a decade earlier. But that national figure masked big local variations. In Punjab, for instance, there were 793 girls for 1,000 boys, down from 875 girls in 1991. The global ratio is about 1,005 females to 1,000 males. The yearning for a son is a deep-rooted social phenomenon. The prejudice against girls also stretches into urban centres such as New Delhi, where the census showed 845 girls per 1,000 boys in some affluent neighbourhoods. The government, alarmed by the number of "missing females", has introduced legislation to ban routine ultrasounds on women below the age of 35 but the measure still has to be passed. ANI |
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