By Bishakha Bhanja
National Alliance of Women, Orissa

In Orissa we are in a peculiar situation. Social problems have never been so acute/visible to raise voices/concerns. But all the same they do exist and we cannot just sweep them under the carpet. And it was proved very recently by Nayagarh female foeticide case. Till date, whenever the issue of female foeticide was raised, spontaneous response from many of us was “in Orissa we do not have it like it is in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab or Haryana”

But since 2001, our juvenile sex ratio (0-6yrs) gives a totally different rather scary picture. For last two decades it is characterised by rapid masculinisation of the child population with drastic decline in juvenile sex ratio. Districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Nuapada, Rayagada, and Kondhamal where the ove all sex ratio is favourable to female till date, even there we can see a steady decline in child sex ratio. In fact, the situation of Kendrapara is quite alarming in the sense that when the overall sex ratio is 1014 according to 2001 Census, the child sex ration is only 935.

At the state level, while the sex ratio for all the age groups of population is 972 (2001 Census), it comes down to 950 in the 0-6 years age group of population. At the district level, the situation is worse in case of developed coastal districts such as Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Puri, Khurda, Ganjam. This is may be because the people have better access to sex determination tests. Dr. S.B. Agnihotri in his book “Sex ratio patterns in the Indian Population- a fresh exploration” analysed the whole issue and shared that there is a sharp decline in the urban female-male juvenile sex ratio between 1991 and 2001. The 1991 census was showing that only in two districts of Orissa i.e. Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur where child sex ratio (CSR) is less than 950. But 2001 census shows that 12 districts of Orissa where CSR is less than 950 - Balasore (934), Bhadrak (940), Kendrapara (935), Jagatsinghpur (917), Cuttack (941), Jajpur (932), Dhenkanal (919), Anugul (934), Nayagarh (901) and Khurdha (920). His research also shows that sex selective abortions are occurring among the relatively prosperous urban pockets in Orissa.

So in this context, the recent news telecast in electronic media and subsequently in print media about seven cases of female foeticides in Nayagarh and the subsequent discovery of hundreds of decomposed foetuses is not very surprising. It so happened that it was exposed in Nayagarh but looking at the CSR one can say it is happening all over Orissa .

What are the reasons for such drastic CSR decline and what is the reason for such rampant foeticides, especially female foeticides? In general the reason which is applicable not only to Orissa but to all the South Asian countries, is the strong son preference in the region. This preference is influenced by many socio-economic and cultural factors, such as son being responsible for carrying forward the family name. Son only has to perform all the religious rituals for the family etc. Strong son preference was there for a long time. But importance of girl child is going downhill only in recent years in Orissa.

The patriarchal value system is so deep rooted that it never gives any value to girl child. One of its manifestations is dowry system. With increasing consumerism the demand for dowry has increased manifold. If we look back, the demand for dowry was not so much same 30/40 years back in Orissa. But now it has increased stupendously. So the parents are almost feeling harassed when a girl is born to them. Unfortunately instead of stopping the evil (dowry) they want to get rid of the girl child.

Again with the modern medical technology like amniocentesis, female foeticide has become quite easy. Amniocentesis first started in India in 1974 as a part of a sample survey conducted at the All India Institute of Medial Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, to detect foetal abnormalities. These tests were later stopped by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Though the test was banned the technique was adopted and 1979 saw the first sex determination clinic in Amritsar, Punjab . And shortly it spread out all over India. Women's organisations and activists opposed the pre-natal test and sex determination but they could not do anything because of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. This is because the amniocentesis test was claimed to be used for detection of fetal abnormalities, which were permitted by the MTP Act. According to the MTP Act, if any abnormality is detected between 12 to 18 weeks of gestational period in the fetus, an abortion can be legally carried out up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

This resulted in mushrooming growth of pre-natal scanning centres. It became quite easy for sex-selective abortion and the result is rapidly declining CSR.

But thanks to Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-selection (FASDSP), a social action group in Mumbai, which initiated a campaign against pre natal sex selection tests, first in Maharashtra (1988) and subsequently in Punjab in 1994 the prenuptial diagnostic tests were regulated under state Acts. It is only in 1994 a Central legislation was passed in the name of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 28 September1994 and banned sex determination tests all over the country. However it took almost one and half year to frame the rules and the Act came into force in 1996. During the course of implementation of the Act certain loopholes were noticed. And it was proved that the Act was not very much effective in preventing sex selective abortions. The 2001 Census proved it with declining CSR all over India. To clog these loopholes the PNDT Act has been amended and came to force from February 14, 2003. Now the title of the Act is read as the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of sex selection) Act 2002 (PCPNDT ACT). In India, we have many pro women progressive law. But implementation of these laws, policies is in the hands of those people majority of whom are themselves torch bearers of patriarchal value system. So even if PCPNDT Act is there, yet sex-selected abortions are happening and glaring example is the Nayagarh issue.

Sometimes the government rules/policy also encourages for such heinous act. At present Government of Orissa has put conditionality on the aspirant Panchayati Raj candidate which is popularly known as “Two child Norm” conditionality. As per the norm if a person has more than two children (the cut off date is 1994) then he/she is not eligible for contesting the election. And if by chance she/he has been elected then he/she has to vacate the office. Though having a small family definitely good option, this kind of conditionality put the women in a vulnerable situation. This prompts many to go for sex selective abortions.

So in order to prevent female foeticide certain steps needs to be taken up in a more urgent and sustained manner.

• Steps should be taken to constitute both state level and district level supervisory board as prescribed under PNDT Act 2002 and ensure proper functioning of the board.
• Nursing homes and ultrasound clinics should be given registration number and license after strict appraisal. All the existing Nursing homes and ultrasound clinics without license and registrations must be closed down immediately all over Orissa.
• Make Committees under NRHM at various levels responsible to monitor the enforcement of PNDT Act.
• Aggressive campaigning through various media against female feticide and decreasing sex ratio (with political will and not just to achieve target). Wall writing, street theatre on the issue for mass awareness.
• Sex education and courses on gender needs to be provided to school and college students.
• Special life skill education to school dropouts.
• Coordination among concerned departments and civil society on this matter is a must. It should not be only health affair or women's affair.

Moreover, the issue of female foeticide should be taken in a totality. The reasons for such high rate of illegal abortions are many. At one hand people do not want girls at the other hand due to ignorance regarding sex unwanted pregnancy is also on high. This attitude and behaviour of general mass is fuelled by the unholy alliance between medical fraternity's greediness and government apathy towards women's development issue. Many a times our government as well as civil society have shown their concern about rising number of “unwed mothers”. But are against sex education at school. We are concerned about illegal abortions but still have son preference. Our Government is very much keen on women's empowerment but puts “Two child conditionality” on women's political empowerment process in the name of population stabilisation. These kinds of contradictory attitudes and policies need to be analysed. Social apathy towards declining sex ratio in general and female foeticide in particular needs to be addressed. Above all, I do not know, but somewhere people's greed for money and hoarding attitude needs to be addressed. And it is true that if the problem is not looked in a holistic perspective it can't be solved compartmentally just by shutting down clinics or forming monitoring and supervisory committees.