By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
Lucknow: The rate of female feticide has increased considerably in recent years in India, because of which the birth rate and the post-natal survival rate of girls in comparison to boys has reached its lowest point ever. This was revealed by UK-based NGO Action Aid.
According to its recent report, only 300 girls per thousand boys are found in upper caste families in a locality in Punjab. The report says if the trend of giving preference to boys over girls continues, India’s future may become bleak.
Action Aid has prepared this report with the cooperation of Canada International Research Center after interviewing 6000 families in five north-western states and comparing the data with national census conducted in 2001.
According to the study, number of girls in three of these states was only 8oo per thousand boys whereas it should have been 950 under normal conditions. In four out of five states, according to the report, the birth rate of girls declined in comparison to that of boys after 2001 census.
What is remarkable in the finding is that the decrease was greater in wealthy urban areas. Action Aid says ultra-sound detection technique is likely to be responsible for this. The report documents say Indian women are under extreme pressure to bear male child. It has socio-economic reason: in the dominant patriarchal society, girls remain at the receiving end and are considered a bane instead of a boon.
Although the sex detection of the fetus in mother’s womb and feticide were banned in 1994, but according to Action aid, more families are now resorting to ultra-sound techniques and feticide. The NGO has also alleged use of illegal practices in this connection, for instance, leaving umbilical chord already infected.