The girl child is living in Haryana, but being killed in Uttar Pradesh now

Haryana, while entering into the third year of its fight against illegal sex determination and female foeticide, has finally begun to see some positive impact.

Cases of illegal sex determination and female foeticide in the state were extensive over the last few decades. Due to high incidence of female foeticide, Haryana as a state featured at the top of the list for having the lowest child sex ratio (CSR) in the country. However, despite the positive response, new challenges have emerged for the state to address.

The clinics conducting illegal sex determination and female foeticide tests in neighbouring states are acquiring significance with the help of touts.

They are offering attractive discounts to parents to carry out illegal sex determination and abortion of the unborn girl child. This is the failure on part of the authorities concerned in respective districts to perform their required duties in lieu of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act.

Census (2011) data showed a significant declining trend in CSR in India. It is calculated as number of girls for every 1,000 boys between the age group of 0-6 years. The ratio in 1961 was 976. Since then, it has been on a decline. It fell to 962 in 1981, 945 in 1991, then to 927 girls in 2001, and to 918 girls by the time of the 2011 Census.

The declining ratio reflects both pre-birth discrimination manifested through gender-biased sex selection, and post-birth discrimination against girls. The decline is widespread in rural as well as tribal areas.      

In response to the falling sex-ratio in India, the law first came into force in 1996 as the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994. The Act banned the practice of determining the sex of an unborn child. Later, it was amended in 2003 to bring various techniques of preconception sex selection such as, sperm sorting, within the ambit of the Act.

Thereby, the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 2003, commonly called PC-PNDT Act, made it illegal to determine the sex of the unborn child or even the use of sex-selection technologies.

Irregularities in implementation of PCPNDT Act

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report, 'Performance Audit on Empowerment of Women Government of Uttar Pradesh', for the period from 2010-11 to 2014-15 has indicated that a similar situation is prevalent across the country.

The findings in the report indicate that funds allotted to various state governments were underutilised. In case of renewing the registration of ultra-sonography (USG) centres by the authorities concerned, the Act provides for renewal to be done within 90 days. However, on failing to do so, it results in the automatic renewal of the licence of the clinic.

Hence, this allows some practitioners to continue the illegal practices. The CAG had also reported that for 138 centres, the registration renewal had been pending from around 26 to 1,490 days. Similarly, registrations of 32 centres were not done in due time.

Additionally, the report has highlighted that the majority of the district appropriate authorities have failed to perform regular inspections and monitoring of USG centres, due to which they failed to map and regulate USG equipment, absence of tracking system in USG machines, non-imposition of penalties and insufficient decoy operations.

This clearly points towards the major policy gap that exists in the legislation. Despite the Act being in force for 20 years, the concerned district appropriate authorities in several districts and states have failed to conscientiously perform their functions to conduct regular inspections and maintain records of USG centres, registration, etc, as mandated in the Act.

Moreover, due to higher risks involved of being caught by the authorities in certain states, touts have started luring clients from neighbouring states by offering them attractive discounts. Hence, states such as, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have become safe havens for touts and doctors who conduct sex determination tests illegally.

A shimmering hope

A social campaign, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, was launched two years ago by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Panipat, Haryana. The scheme is meant to address the issue of declining CSR in 100 gender critical districts of India. The objective of the scheme is to celebrate, educate, and protect the girl child.

Two years later, the data on gender ratio which is available with the Haryana government has recorded a positive response. Here, 12 districts have crossed the 900-mark. The sex ratio at birth (SRB) in the state for December 2016 was 914, touching the 900-mark for the first time in almost two decades.

But despite the progress in Haryana, the programme now faces new challenges. Officials have reported that with increased enforcement in Haryana, touts are taking pregnant women to ultrasound centres located outside the state, with Uttar Pradesh turning out to be a haven.

While touts in Haryana charged Rs 35,000-30,000 for illegal sex-determination, the rates in Uttar Pradesh are as low as Rs 10,000. In addition, sex-determination and female foeticide has also been thriving in Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan. During 74 inter-state raids conducted by Haryana government officials over the past year, 37 (the maximum) of these have been reported from Uttar Pradesh alone.

However, the other states in India have witnessed mixed results with regard to the sex-ratio. According to information provided by the government in Parliament, the sex ratio at birth had dipped from 909 (2011-13) to 906 (2012-14) females per 1,000 males.

Along with Haryana, Punjab, which had displayed an alarming trend in the last few decades, has begun to show signs of improvement. The ratio there has improved from 867 to 870. Some other states where the ratio has improved are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

However, the child SRB in Gujarat has plunged to a five-year low of 907 girls per 1,000 boys in 2012-2014, according to data released by sample registration system (SRS). This is a major drop of four points from 2011-2013 SRS data which had recorded 911 girls per 1,000 boys in the state.

In Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, the number was 925; this has fallen drastically to 888 per 1,000 boys in November last year. In addition, there are seven such districts in Rajasthan that have seen drastic fall in sex ratio.

The road ahead  

The PC-PNDT Act makes no distinction between punishment for sex selection leading to female foeticide and other offences under the Act such as non-maintenance of Form F, non-registration, non-maintenance of records etc, but which do not necessarily lead to abortion of the identified foetus.

Due to these factors, in September 2016, radiologists went on a severe strike to protest against the harassment they have to face. They had explained that the violation of the Act amounted to equal punishment for sex determination and clerical errors.

They had recommended separate provisions - to place record-keeping out of the ambit of criminal provisions, separate from actual sex selection under the Act. However, it will be wrong to prosecute different offences under the same criminal proceedings.

Nevertheless, medical practitioners should not and cannot be allowed to violate the clauses in the Act. They have to strictly adhere to the norms as prescribed by it. Hence, they should be punished for violation of the Act, but it should be based on the gravity of the offence, where punishment for sex selection or determination should be severely dealt with.  

However, it is not difficult to understand the factors responsible for low number of cases that have been registered for violation of the Act. For the period 1994-2014, only 2,021 cases have been registered, which is merely 101 cases per year.

For the same period, the number of cases that have been convicted is 206. These numbers are drastically low given the fact that there were 25.49 million girls missing due to sex selection during the period 1991-2011. Moreover, 14 states/UTs have not registered a single case so far, which implies that these regions are not prone to the disease of sex-ratio discrimination.

However, this is not true. Therefore, the central government in cooperation with state governments should ensure that every district is immediately provided with an effective enforcement team and infrastructure enabling them to diligently perform their duties.

The number of genetic counselling centres/genetic clinics/genetic laboratories, etc, that are registered across the country under the PC & PNDT Act is 50,743. The idea of monitoring over 29 million pregnant women from their pregnancy to delivery of the child, as suggested by Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi last year, is next to impossible and problematic.

The option of regulating 50,743 USG centres across India will be more feasible and effective to curb illegal sex determination of the unborn child. Therefore, the way forward for PC & PNDT is in the hands of district appropriate authorities to carry out inspections and prosecute the touts and medical practitioners if they are found guilty of violating the Act. This option is not only viable but also essential to equalise the sex-ratio in India and hence, empower the girls.

Also read: What makes a mother kill her children