Female Foeticide

Presented By

PANKAJ KUMAR SINGH

What is female foeticide?

1) Aborting a female foetus after sex determination test

2) Ultra-sonography, helps determine abnormalities in the foetus.

3) Misused to find out sex of the foetus and abort it if it is a girl.

REASONS 1) Sex Discrimination

2) Dowry 3) Poverty

4) Illiteracy 5) Women are viewed as a liability

MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEMEvery year more than 10 million female foetuses are illegally being aborted in India. In Mumbai, out of 15,914 abortions performed during 1984, almost 100 percent were those of girl foetuses.Even today out of the 12 million girls born in India, 1 million do not even see their first “birthday”

ORIGIN:- This process began in the early

1990’s when ultrasound technique which , was invented to basically check the health of the baby inside the mother and this technique was being used for this crime . A tendency in Indian families to have a male child particularly in the family . This also leads to the enhancement of this crime

“FEMALE FOETICIDE”.

What origins the shortage of a girl child?

• Poverty?• Political or economic system?• Illiteracy or low educational level?• Low fertility?• One child policy?

• The status of female in India actually

symbolizes India’s status of being a developing nation. Of course India deserves to be in list because here in this 21st century

where we have high technological upgraded treatments to overcome such big diseases but the girl child continues to be murdered before she is born. Female feticide is still prevalent in the Indian society , infact it has been a practice of hundreds of years.

Sadly there have been numerous fetus beingfound lying in farms , float-ing in rivers ,unwrapped in jute bags etc.

A Woman’s Womb

• A woman’s womb was designed to be the safest place in the world, the place of compassion. Instead it has been turned into one of the most dangerous places in the world.

THESE ARE ALSO WOMEN WHO HELPED IN DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRY SO WHY NOT THE

UNBORN GIRL CHILD ????????

SOCIAL EFFECTS

• Skewed Sex Ratio * 962 and 945 girls for every 1000 boys

in the years 1981 and 1991

* 933 girls for 1000 boys according to

Indian Census 2011

* Rural Sex Ratio – 946

* Urban Sex Ratio – 900

* State with highest female sex ratio- Kerala - 1058

* State with lowest female sex ratio - Haryana - 861

• Female / Women Trafficking

* Sale of wives, swap marriages

* Compelled to marry for a fixed price.

* Child marriage

• Increase in Rape and Assault• Population Decline

* Total wipeout of one sex is not the way to achieve the target

of population control.

• Kidnapping

* Women are kidnapped and sold ( in Bride Bazaars ).

• Adverse effect on the mental and physical health of mother

• Vicious CircleFemale feticide

Low female to male ratio

Low status of women

REAL INDIA

• Body of new born girl found in jodhpur hospital dump.

• Khap’s brave steps towards female foeticicde.• Rajasthan: day-old baby girl dumped in a well.• Illegal abortion cases : beed doctor couple to be

produced in court.• Acc to national crime records bureau, punjab (81),

rajasthan (51), mp(21), haryana (18) and chattisgarh (24).

• According to Indian government 10 million girls have been killed , either before or after birth by their parents.

• Medical expert in India says that an estimated of 80,000 woman die from legal abortions.

• Satyamev Jayate highlighted it’s 1st episode on female foeticide which talked about 3 cases. It was not from rural area but from urban city.

• A national award movie ‘MATRABHUMI’ was made by Manish Jha which highlights a nation without women.

• It talks about abortion and female infanticides in rural village.

• Another film made on it is ‘JALPARI-DESERT MERMAID’.

• Daily more than 50 girls are been aborted or killed.

• If the trend of female infanticides continues then a nations without women is not a distant reality

Fight against female foeticide

1> The first legislation against female foeticide , enacted in 1978, banned the misuse of amniocentesis in government health care institution.

2> The Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques

(Prohibition of selection) Act, 1994 (referred to as the PC & PNDT Act) and it came into force with effect from February 14, 2003. According to this act doctors and radiologists conducting, or soliciting parents for, sex determination tests can be imprisoned up to five years and fined up to Rs.50,000.

3> The salient features of the PNDT Act are • It prohibits sex-selection, both before or after conception • It regulates the use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques, like ultrasound and

amniocentesis by allowing their use only to detect * Genetic abnormalities * Metabolic disorders * Chromosomal abnormalities * Certain congenital malformations * Haemoglobinopathies * Sex-linked disorders 4> The Maharashtra government has recommended to the Centre that the Pre-

conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act be amended so that sex-selective abortion or female foeticide is treated as “murder”. The state health secretary wrote to the union health and family welfare ministry last month: “It is submitted that the necessary possible amendment may be carried out in the PCPNDT Act, 1994, so that sex selective abortions be treated as murder and the offence punishable under section 302 of the IPC.”

The main reason perceived for not wanting daughters is ‘Dowry’ system

• The payment of a dowry was prohibited in 1961 under Indian civil law and subsequently by Sections 304B and 498a of the Indian Penal Code

• IPC Section 498A: This Section of the Indian Penal Code was inserted by1983 amendment.

• PC Section 304b: This Section of the Indian Penal Code was inserted by a 1986 amendment. The wording of the law states

Organizations helping to fight this issue.

Snehalaya is based in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. Started in 1989 by a group of young volunteers led by Dr Girish Kulkarni.

“SAVE THE GIRL CHILD”

"Save The Girl Child" project, aims to eradicate the practice of female infanticide and foeticide - by encouraging the adoption of girls in cases where the biological parents do not want to or are unable to look after them.

Plan’s vision is of a world in which all children realise their full potential in societies which respect people’s rights and dignity. Plan is independent, with no religious, political or governmental affiliations.

Plan India has launched the Let Girls Be Born (LGBB) campaign and its main objective is to realize a gender balance in society by eliminating female foeticide/ infanticide and ensuring the right to identity, name and citizenship for the girl child.

A GROUP OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

INVOLVED IN SOLVING INEQUITABLE SOCIAL

PROBLEMS

CAMPAIGN : “I save a girl”

Is an sms enabled web application on facebook

development platform that will enable crowd sourced

philanthropy to stop female foeticide in INDIA.

OBJECTIVES

To register and train social networking users as volunteers.

To receive reports via sms/email/app from any expectant mother who will be able to

report anonymously their suspicion of possibility of “child sex determination "and

“girl foetus abortion”.To keep mother’s privacy intact so that she

can effectively monitor and ensure the birth of a girl child without ant stress.

A REGISTERED NGO WORKING WITH EMPHASIS ON GENDER AGENDA, TOWARDS ALL ROUND

DEVELOPMENT IN TWENTY TWO VILLAGES OF KHANAPUR TALUK OF BELGAUM DISTRICT.

OBJECTIVE: To prevent exploitation of girl child and women.

To empower women organizing, involving and participating.

Conclusion• Female Foeticide is a growing menace in our society.• The government should take harsh steps against those who

readily kill their girl child• Strong action against the doctors who facilitate female

foeticide.• More awareness in this regard to make the people of our

nation more conscious and eradicate this menace.

Thank You