Her mother cannot resist, cannot utter a single word because she will be harassed mentally and physically. She cannot nurture her baby. She has got no reproductive rights to grow a female baby inside her womb because she has been transformed into a son-making machine.

How could they snatch away the buds of roses from her lap before it is fully blossomed? How can they take away the darling daughter of her dream before she is born? Her dreams of breastfeeding the baby, the dream of bathing, taking care and singing a lullaby to make the daughter sleep in the lap are ruined. She earns to see her daughter growing into a beautiful young maiden with charming fragrance. Definitely she cannot kill the baby of own nature. She is forced to due to familiar and social pressure.

An unborn daughter sings, dances, hums, chants, dreams and jumps joyously in her mother's womb. She very much wants to be born as her mother's darling daughter, to glow in her golden countenance and reflect with her resemblance, wants to be submerged in the Ganges of love & affection.

After her birth, this little seed will germinate and will grow from a sapling to a tree and bear fruits. As a lotus she will fill the whole world with her sweet fragrance; as Mandakini she will flow from Himalaya to Kumarika with her radiant beauty and brain, she will be an exclamation in the whole world!! The mother might not want to see her daughter, but the daughter desires to see her mother. So she pleads, her mother not to kill her. The daughter is not only born from the body or mind of the mother, but she is born from the soul of the mother. She is not only "Tanuja" or "Manoja". She is "Atmaja", the reduplication of her own soul.

Unlike the belief that foeticide occurs where people are poor, illiterate and unaware, the highest ratios of foeticide have been observed in economically developed areas. Punjab and Haryana today are India's most prosperous states. These are the states where introduction of technologies like those for the Green Revolution have revolutionised the prosperity of the people. It is astonishing that the child sex ratio is less than 800 in these places.

At the state level in Orissa, the Nayagarh female foeticide issue has shocked the whole state as well as people living in different parts of the country and abroad. In Orissa, the sex ratio for all age group population is 972/1000 (2001 census) but 0-6 years age group is 950.

The 2001 census also shows that in coastal districts of Orissa child sex ratio is less than 950, the lowest ranges being Nayagarh (901), Jagatsinghpur (916), Dhenkanal (919), Khurda (920), Jajpur (932), Angul (934), Balasore (934), Kendrapara (935), Bhadrak (940), Cuttack (941).

As in other states, so also in Orissa sex selective abortion (female foeticide) is rampant in urban areas rather than rural areas where there little access to diagnostic techniques and medical facilities.

Female foeticide is a practice of selective elimination of the female foetus after prenatal determination or sex pre-selection, thus avoiding the birth of a girl child. This is one of the heinous ways of discrimination against women in a society.

Essentially, female foeticide is a two-step practice. The first step involves the detection sex of the unborn baby in the womb of the mother. This could be done at the behest of the mother, or father, or both or under family pressure. Sex of the baby could be detected by pre-conception and post-conception methods. The pre-conception methods include (X and Y chromosome separation) and pre-implanation genetic diagnosis. It is the post-conception methods that are in much wider use, namely: amniocentesis, chorion villus sampling and ultra-sonography. Once the sex of the baby is detected, the second step involves a decision taken by the mother, or father, or both or under pressure of the family to have or not to have the child.

Legislation-wise, sex determination of unborn child is banned under Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Technique Act, 1994 (PCPNDT). Moreover, utilization of ultra-sonography, amniocentesis to determine and communicate the sex of an unborn is punishable under law since January 1996.

As far as abortion (or what is also called therapeutic abortion) itself is concerned, it was legalized in India in 1971 with the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. Under the main laws (Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 and the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 1994), the Indian government has conceded that abortion may be carried out if there is (a) danger to the life of the mother in child birth, (b) if the child is being born handicapped, or (c) if the woman has conceived the child as a result of rape. Women are also allowed the right to abortion if they wish to do so in the interest of keeping the family small. However, it is often seen that the decision of abortion is taken immediately after the detection that the unborn child is a female, especially if it is a second or third female child.

Female foeticide is a gross violation of many rights. The first is the right of the unborn to life. The second right violated is that of the woman's right over her body. In turn, distorted child sex ratio has a number of important implications for the nation. Lesser women in population may further worsen their status in the society. In particular may give rise to violence against women, sexual harassment, rape and abduction. Experts also predict forced polyandry, increased prostitution and the respective rise of HIV as the indirect cost of female foeticide. On the women's part, the alarming consequences are psychological disorders and health hazards caused by poorly conducted sex-determination procedures and numerous abortions. And it is women's health that significantly determines health and reproduction of the nation.

Indeed, the scope of female foeticide could be assessed through an indicator such as child sex ratio, or the number of girls in the age group of 0 to 6 years per thousand boy of the same age group. The Census commission's latest analysis (2001) has shown that the child sex ratio is turning dangerously masculine.

The causes behind female foeticide can be classified under four heads – social, economic, political, and technology-related.

The social causes emanate from religious beliefs, sanctions and practices. The majority of the people who follow Hindu faith believe that a son alone can perform last rites, which ensure salvation of the souse after death. It is the son who carries the family name and parents are considered to be the "trustees" of their daughters, who belongs to 'another family' and in reality, is only a 'guest' till she is married off. The practice of dowry is an economic burden on the parental family and further reduces status of women and the desire to have a daughter.

The economic causes are the reasons, which are primarily materialistic in nature. Sons provide the workforce as they bring in a bride seen as "an extra pair of hand. Sons are the source of family income and have to provide for parents in their old age. Daughters don't stay with the family. Hence parents do not get profit from any investments made for the daughter. Daughters do not become the support for their old age. Dowry is a huge financial burden on the families. This burden leads to the daughter being perceived as a liability. The issue of inheritance rights is a sensitive one. The large female foeticide taking place in primarily agricultural areas is attributed to the fact that with equal in the rights given to the girls, families fear that agricultural land will go away when the daughter marries and moves away.

Labour market discriminations are an important form of economic discrimination. Women are less likely to work in high positions as compared to their male counterparts. Women's earning in India is 38 per cent of the male earning (HRD2004).

The technological causes are the ones that gave birth to the problem of foeticide. With improved technology, a new way to get rid of the unborn girl child was discovered. Foeticide often is practiced to limit the size of the family. Advertisements like spend Rs 5000 now, and save Rs 5,00,000 later become a part of this inhuman practice, and make it sound like an economic investment. Fear of violence, rejection, and also the desire for a higher status in house in decision-making matters are causes that drive the woman to agree to foeticides.

Female foeticide is not just a medical issue. It is a social issue, an economic concern and a development crisis. Therefore, efforts to address it come from various sides. The PNDT Act has been in force for several years now. Sex selection is recognized as a crime. All ultra sound clinics have to be registered. The Medical Council of India can suspend/cancel the registration of doctors caught doing sex selection, or an abortion has sex selection.

In 2002, PNDT Amendment Act came into force with more stringent norms under which a person who seeks the aid of a genetic or ultrasound clinic or medical geneticist for sex selection can face imprisonment for a three year period and be required pay a fine of Rs 50,000. The same measures apply to those providing such aid. However, despite the threat of law, foeticide continues as rampant as ever. Female foeticide is a clandestine business for which an exact figure is difficult to obtain.

Most of the women reported that they killed their babies under pressure from their husbands. Thus willingly or unwillingly they become party to the crime for they have no control even over their bodies.

National Plan of Action exclusively for the girl child (1991-2000) was formulated in 1992 for the "Survival, Protection and Development of the Girl Children". The Plan recognized the rights of the girl child to equal opportunity, to be free from hunger, illiteracy, ignorance and exploitation towards ensuring survival of the girl child, the objectives are to prevent cases of female foeticide and ban the practice of amniocentesis for sex determination.

So for prevention of female foeticide we can take some necessary steps like registration of all ultrasound clinics and nursing homes, strict monitoring and enforcement of PNDT Act, mass awareness against female feticide through rallies, campaigning, writing and projection through media.

So the government organisations, non-government organisations, social workers, doctors, the medical fraternity and people from all spheres of the society must come forward and join their hands and raise their voices for gender equality and eradicate female foeticide. All must come forward to welcome their darling daughters with the same joy and happiness as a son.