Handling Female foeticide and infanticide ! A new dimension.

I am in Delhi today and this morning we were discussing about the sorry state of women in this place . The talks went around Baby Falak's episode and before it was finished the news flashed about a 3 month old baby girl Afreen from Bangalore . Afreen was beaten in her head and bitten in her thighs by her father who wanted to see her dead . The reason is clear , he wanted a BOY ! And as i type she is still battling for her life in Vani Vilas hospital in Bangalore .

Female infanticide and female foeticide are reaching alarming rates . Or maybe this has been the case all the while and just that more cases are reported now , thanks to media activism. Infact census statistics vindicate the aforesaid statement . India whose over all sex ratio has clocked a cheering 940 in 2011 as compared to 933 in 2001 , has steeply fallen to 914 when it comes to child sex ratios . Even Kerala the state having the highest sex ratio of 1084 and the highest literacy rates fails to reach the 1000 mark when it comes to 0-6 child sex ratio.

There have been conventional attempts of handling this evil .We have PCPNDT Act1994 and 2003(Amendment) to bring to books the perpetrators of illegal sex determination i,e the doctors and the assistants . “Save the Girl Child Campaign" has high lightened the achievements of the young girls thereby trying to reduce the preference for boys. We have MTP 1971 to handle illegal abortions.

However the laws have hardly bore any fruit and the PCPNDT is known for its poor conviction rate across the country .The government is only trying to cure the consequence and not aiming at the core causal factors. The factors responsible to female foeticide in India are largely two fold . One is the economics of having a girl child and the other is the status and dependence of women in a patriarchal society .

Since India is patriarchal society where the girl child shall leave to her husband's place(family of procreation) after marriage and normally not of any financial support to her parents , people see no relevance in bringing up a girl child. To add to the burden the 'dowry' adds a hefty amount to the girls balance sheet ! In the light of the economics it is logical for a poor couple to avoid a girl baby. But the point is that the logic is inhuman and unethical.

Secondly , even though the pregnant women might want to pursue with the baby girl , the dependence of the women on the husband and in-laws make them mute spectators to this heinous crime. There are instances where in the mothers are forced to feed tobacco to the new born babies in Madhya Pradesh(ref http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/sereport/ser/ser_srida.pdf) .Incase the mothers differ they are thrown away or tortured in their husbands place and in most cases they are not welcome by their parents due to social pressures.

To solve these two problems of economics and lack of women rights in having a girl child , there is a need for an alternative solution apart from targeting the doctors and spreading the awareness about importance of girl child.

Mass awareness about the profanity of dowry has to happen. This cannot happen with the help of laws alone.We need to handle the rituals with religious charisma .Today every faith has its own revered charismatic personality referred to as Gurus / Fathers/Imams /Saints . It is seen that a large number of them are highly qualified even though they are conservative in their approaches.They are conservative in the context of ideals and principles on which their religion /sect is based . However Dowry is such a ritual which is not closely tied to the ideology of salvation, so it shall be logically feasible to convince a leader on dropping the dowry system. We need to call the shots from such men . "Our words in revered voice" shall reach the mass much faster and shall have a larger effect . Let the institution which started the dowry end it too !!

Once we restrict the dowry system to a considerable level , we need to make the 'abal' women a 'sabal' women .She should dare to stand against her husband and in-laws incase she is forced to abort her girl child. Today all she can do is file a complaint with the police on her husband and get back to her husbands place . How illogical!!! A lucky few would have the money to get back to their parents who are again unlikely to take care of her for the rest of her life.

Government has to create institutions to cater to the needs of pregnant women who are in such condition.There is need to create 'maternity homes' .They have to be given protection , shelter and later such women have to be given vocational training and be made self reliable .Self Help groups can be created to make them economically stronger. A high status have to be accorded to those women who come to such homes inorder to boost their self confidence .(For eg veeramata ).In the meantime , once a women is admitted to such homes , a complaint has to be booked under Domestic violence Act 2005 on her husband. Divorces in such cases should be carefully monitered .

When such an institution is present it shall act as a deterrent for the men who force the women to indulge in infanticide and foeticides. There are chances of misuse of the provisions , therefore suitable logical checks have to be laid.

Lastly coming to the economic relevance of bringing up the girl child , there have been new schemes which the governments have banked upon .Madhya Pradesh is thinking of giving special pension to couples having only girl children. Bhagyalakshmi scheme of Karnataka keeps aside 1 lakh per girl child at her birth only to be withdrawn when she reaches 18.Ladli scheme of Delhi is also a step in the same direction.

Further the success stories of women who are earning and taking care of their parents should be highlighted and showcased.They instill the confidence the women badly need to value their sex. We need to bring in the awareness using plays , documentaries and other media. Women- achievers from the same locality and community shall wield more effect.

Gandhi once famously said "educate a man , you ll educate a person ; educate a women ,you ll educate a civilisation" .

I conclude "let us protect the Afreens and Radhas and let the Indian civilisation blossom "

Jai Hind!