WUNRN
INDIA - THE UNWANTED GIRL CHILD
By
ANUPAMA KATAKAM
India Census 2011 data bring into the open Maharashtra State's terrible
record in sex-selective abortions.
Girls
carrying home water in Mumbai. Maharashtra, a seemingly progressive State, has
one of the worst child sex ratios in the country (BIKAS DAS/AP)
In early June, Vijaymala Patekar, a mother of four girls, haemorrhaged to death
at a hospital in Parli, Beed district, Maharashtra. She was reportedly in her
second trimester of pregnancy. Her family had allegedly forced her to abort the
foetus when they learnt it was a girl child.
Sudam Munde, the doctor who performed the procedure, fled Parli but was
arrested later. He reportedly confessed to the police that he along with his
doctor-wife Saraswati Munde had conducted hundreds of sex-selective abortions
in the past few years. He also said that women from neighbouring districts,
too, approached his clinic for the purpose, and the demand had enabled him to
set up a huge practice. Investigations revealed that the doctor had crores of
rupees in bank accounts.
Vijaymala Patekar’s death has exposed tragic facts and explosive data. It
categorically points to the fact that Maharashtra, a seemingly progressive
State, has one of the worst child sex ratios in the country. The State has been
perpetuating a terrible crime by ignoring it, say activists who have been
working for decades for the “Save the Girl Child” movement. Vijaymala Patekar’s
case, reports of girl babies being abandoned regularly, and the 2011 Census
data on the declining child sex ratio clearly show that female foeticide exists
in a demonic form and is increasing across the State.
There was a spate of cases of abandoned infant girls and aborted female
foetuses in different parts of Mumbai in June alone. A three-day-old girl was
found by municipal cleaners in a garbage bin on a highway near Mankhurd, while
a two-month-old girl was found abandoned outside Dadar railway station in the
city. The body of a one-day-old girl was found dumped near a nullah (stream) in
Rabodi, Thane.
This is not unusual. A few months ago, a group of boys playing football in a
playground in south Mumbai accidently unearthed the body of a newborn girl
buried there. Another infant girl was found near a rubbish bin, half-eaten by
rats, but alive. An orphanage in suburban Mumbai, which practises cradle
adoption, says it receives three or four girl babies every month. “It is a poor
reflection on our society,” says Usha Salve, a social activist who works in one
of Mumbai’s slums.
In early July, in Solapur, the police arrested another doctor couple, who were
on the run, for conducting sex-selective abortions. Drs Ajit and Priyadarsini
Upase had been absconding ever since the police discovered one of their
hospital staff burying a female foetus at a burial ground in the town. Two of
their staff, who were arrested, told the police that the doctor couple had done
several sex-selective abortions.
Frontline spoke to women from all strata of society as well as activists,
lawyers, doctors and administrators in the State to find out whether saving the
girl child was no longer a priority. The quest revealed that many people – both
rich and poor – viewed girls as financial and emotional burdens.
The police and the local administration say they have graver issues to worry
about than abandoned babies. Activists and lawyers say lax laws and the lack of
a powerful monitoring system allow sex selection to thrive. Of course, it is
also difficult to change the preference of many Indians for a male child.
Census 2011 data
According to Census 2011, there is a shocking decline in the child sex ratio in
Maharashtra. For every 1,000 boys in the State, there are only 883 girls. This
is a lot worse than in 2001, when the figure was 913 girls per 1,000 boys.
However, this phenomenon is not exclusive to Maharashtra.
The latest Census results show an alarming decline in the number of girls born
in India. While in 2001 the national ratio was 976 girls for every 1,000 boys,
it dropped to 914 in 2011. The ratio is calculated as the number of girls per
1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group. As per global trends, the normal child sex
ratio should be above 950.
“There are so many reasons for the discrimination against the girl child. The
foremost, though, is the deep-rooted gender bias in this country,” says A.L.
Sharada, director of Population First, a non-governmental organisation (NGO)
working on women’s issues. “We need to do something as a nation to make people
want a daughter. She must not be seen as a burden or an emotional drain.”
According to Sharada, one of the primary reasons for the decline is the drop in
fertility rate. Moreover, people want smaller families, mainly for economic
reasons. And if they have to have just one child, they want it to be a son.
Another problem that needs to be addressed on a war footing is the aggressive
marketing, with little monitoring, of ultrasound machines. Although NGOs have
been working extensively on this, the lack of sincerity or proactive steps by
governments in combating the issue has unfortunately allowed foeticide to
flourish. Maharashtra was the first State in India to enact a law to protect
the female foetus – the Maharashtra Regulation of Use of Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques Act in 1987, which paved the way for the enactment of the Prevention
of Misuse of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in 1994 and the amended
Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act in 2002.
Additionally, NGOs and women’s rights activists in the State have been
relentlessly campaigning to save the girl child. It was also the first State to
introduce 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies. So why do people
of this State not want girls?
The answer is the same across the country. There is a strong preference
for a son if the parents want only one child – to uphold the family lineage, to
support parents in their old age, to inherit the family business, and to light
the funeral pyre so that the parents attain salvation. Girl children are seen
as nothing but burdens, with dowry being the biggest problem.
What has made sex-selective abortions easier is the proliferation and
affordability of ultrasound machines. There is no diligent monitoring of how
these machines are used, and doctors who perform the abortions are not
penalised, says Sharada. “People in Maharashtra’s sugar belt are the biggest
culprits. Their deep pockets and political influence help perpetuate this
crime,” she says.
Beed district has the lowest sex ratio in the State (802 as per Census 2011), but
that does not necessarily mean that rural regions alone are to be blamed. For
instance, Mumbai, a rich district with higher literacy levels, has 874 girls
per 1,000, while in 2001 the ratio was 922 per 1,000 (see chart).
“Being rich or poor has nothing to do with sex-selective abortions; it happens
across socio-economic strata. What is bad though in this State is that the
districts that did not show a decline in 2001 have shown a downward trend in
the recent Census figures. For instance, the largely tribal districts of
Gadchiroli and Chandrapur are also seeing a sharp decline in sex ratios,” says
Sharada (see map and chart).
As per Census 2011, 32 of the 35 districts in Maharashtra recorded a sharp drop
in the child sex ratio. In fact, the number of districts with a ratio lower
than 900 – nine in 2001 – more than doubled in 2011. Foeticide, which was
restricted to urban pockets and western Maharashtra, has now spread to most
parts of the State.
Do the recent Census figures indicate that the three-decade-old movement to
save the girl child has failed?
“It is unfair to say it has failed. There are several related social ills and
larger issues concerning women that need to be addressed if the movement is to
be effective,” says Sharada. For instance, discriminatory and humiliating
practices such as dowry still exist. Equal inheritance or distribution of
property is still not accepted. Though there is a law against domestic
violence, it has not really checked the violence against women. The environment
in the country is not safe for women. These are issues that make a girl child
seem a burden to most families. If these are addressed, there will be a change
in attitude, feels Sharada.
Manisha Gupte from MASUM, an NGO that has worked to ensure the successful implementation
of the PCPNDT Act, says things have come a long way from the 1980s when public
transport used to be dotted with advertisements such as: “Better 500 now than
50,000 later”, meaning if one is ready to spend Rs.500 on an abortion now, one
could save Rs.50,000 in dowry later.
Priyadarsini
Upase and (right) Ajit Upase, a doctor couple, taken to court after their
arrest in a case of sex-selective abortions, in Solapur on July 4 (PTI)
“Society doesn’t always go forward. Behavioural changes take a very long time.
Sadly, very few families actively want daughters even today. Girls are born as
unintended errors in the pursuit of the highly desired sons,” she says.
Manisha Gupte was amongst those who pioneered the campaign in Maharashtra.
“When we began the movement in the early 1980s, we were labelled
anti-technology, anti-development, anti-doctor, anti-choice and finally
anti-woman. We were told that we were influenced by Western notions of feminism
and that we had no clue about Indian culture and values,” she says.
Yet, the Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-Selection (FASDSP) and
later the Doctors against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-Selection (DASDSP)
carried out a relentless campaign in the mid-1980s. Manisha Gupte says public
awareness drives, exposure of doctors who conducted sex determination tests,
public speeches, poster campaigns, protests outside hospitals that conducted
tests, and rallies, media campaigns and constant meetings with the Health
Ministries at both State and Central levels resulted in Maharashtra banning the
tests and eventually enacting the PNDT. “But we still have a long way to go,”
she says.
“Activism doesn’t always work. You need a strong law prescribing harsh
punishment to combat this evil. Sex selection of the foetus should be treated
as nothing less than a crime. Only then will it stop,” says Varsha Deshpande, a
lawyer who runs the Lek Ladki Abhiyaan, an organisation that has become well
known for carrying out sting operations on clinics and doctors who do
sex-selective tests and abortions. A member of the National Inspection and
Monitoring Committee to implement the PCPNDT Act, she says her organisation has
conducted 36 sting operations since 2005, which resulted in the conviction of
17 doctors.
“The easy availability of ultrasound machines has been the main reason for the
sharply declining numbers. The phenomenon is more widespread in the richer
districts. As it is, Maharashtra has a history of discrimination – be it
against Dalits or women,” says Varsha Deshpande.
Laws and committees
As per the PCPNDT Act, there is a Central Supervisory Committee, headed by the
Union Health Minister, which is the main body to oversee the framing of the
guidelines and the implementation of the law. Each State will have a
supervisory committee to look into State rules and guidelines. There is also
the State Inspection and Monitoring Committee to scour the State and book those
who violate the law. There are also four National Inspection and Monitoring
Committees (NIMC), which carry out inspections including sting operations, in
high-risk States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Then there is
the State Appropriate Authority, a statutory body operating at the district and
block levels, which has a civil surgeon and a health officer as its members.
Varsha Deshpande says Maharashtra has several committees in place to
combat foeticide. “Unfortunately, the authorities lack the will to take action
against erring doctors,” she says. “It is up to civil society and NGOs to
change the scenario. But there is a limit to what we can do,” she says.
“We should encourage a democratic family set-up. We have to teach gender
equality. Why should the father of the house be revered like some god?
Television shows that depict women as subservient are another hurdle in the progression
of society. Modern values should be instilled in people if our attitude towards
women is to change,” she points out.
Soon after the Census results last year, the State became more proactive. As a
result, 77 of 111 doctors who were found to have violated the PCPNDT Act were
convicted.
Varsha Deshpande’s team had busted Dr Munde’s dubious practice last year. The
doctor couple were released on bail soon after, and they went back to their
business quite blatantly. It was only when the media exposed Munde’s role in
Vijaymala Patekar’s death that the State government decided on a crackdown on
sonography centres and hospitals and clinics that did ultrasonography.
The State Health Minister, Suresh Shetty, announced that three squads – made up
of the police, a local administration representative, advocates and doctors –
had been formed to carry out the operation. But when they will strike is not
clear, Varsha Deshpande says.
Attempts to reach the administration and the Health Minister were fruitless. A
press release from the State Health Ministry said that it had submitted
complaints and reports of sex-selective abortions to the Medical Council of
India (MCI).
“A knee-jerk reaction that will have no result,” says Dr Paresh Desai, a
paediatrician in South Mumbai. He says sonography centres have come up with
ingenious ways to inform people about the sex of the foetus after a test.
For instance, an e-mail stating the number 16 would mean one boy as the number
6 resembles the letter ‘b’. The number 19 would mean one girl as 9 resembles
the letter ‘g’. Then the e-mail is deleted, leaving no trace of the test.
Interestingly, many of the women Frontline spoke to did not think a son was a
must. But they agreed that there were anxieties, mostly financial, when a girl
child was born.
Anju Dhangar, a 35-year-old mother of three girls, has been singularly
responsible for her children’s welfare after her husband drank himself to death
a few years ago. She earns around Rs.3,000 a month as a domestic help.
“Although I have no desire for a son, and there was never any pressure from my
in-laws to have one, I am not sure how I will educate and marry them off in my
present financial state,” she says.
Her late sister was less lucky. She was sent away to her village by her husband
to bring up their two daughters. The husband remarried, and the second wife
produced a son. Her sister was never asked to return, and she was given no
money to support the girls. Eventually, ill-health claimed her life a year ago.
Smriti Deora, a student who volunteers for Karm, an NGO that works with women,
says her family has given her the best of opportunities. As an only child from
a business family, she faced no ill will, quite unlike many privileged Indian
families where typically a male is considered the only heir. She says: “It
is a myth that only the poor believe the girl child is a burden. Even the
wealthy do. Investing in a girl child is considered a waste as she will be
‘given’ away in marriage to another family.”