FEMALE FOETICIDE: India is a country which praises deities like Maa Durga Maa Saraswati, Maa Vaishno Devi and considers women as the purest and most valuable incarnation of God. But on the other hand they are killed just because they are female. They are not even given the chance to take birth in this world and therefore leads to an increase in cases of female foeticide in India.
Table of Contents
In many families of the Indian household females are not allowed to give birth to a girl child as they are infected with the idea of raising their families only with the help of a boy child. There is the belief that a man can raise his family. Women are beaten and assaulted just because they are not able to bear a girl child and women are considered to be of less societal value than men. Lack of education is also a major cause of female foeticide in India.
The society is not at all aware about the medical reasons behind the childbirth and therefore women are blamed in all of the situations. And female foeticide has its consequences too and all of them are negative as killing of the female child leads to low sex ratio, the sex ratio of India is 927 females per thousand males and in many states like Haryana it is in the 800 which in itself is a very disheartening figure. The child sex ratio is even lower than this; it is 919 .
Also has negative health consequences which are faced by the women due to continuous abortion. We need to stop this why do women have to beer all the consequences of the actions in which they are not at all involved or we could say that they are not at all responsible for such consequences it’s the process of God on which no one has any control and therefore they should not be controlled at all as stated it should be a natural process and should be respected for it. Because of female foeticide there has been an increase in the abortion cases in India.
The Indian government has also tried to reduce such cases by enacting certain laws about which we will learn in the incoming paragraphs but before that we need to understand the mentality of the society and the reasons behind such repulsive acts.
Reasons behind Female Foeticide
Superior status of Men
Men and the society consider themselves to be superior to women and women are considered to be subordinate to men and are forced to work according to their needs and their requirements and therefore choices of women are totally neglected.
Preference for son
The patriarchal society plays the major role in this idea of preference of a sun during childbirth. Girls are considered to be a liability rather than an asset the moment they enter this world. Investing in their education is seen as something which is total waste of money on the other hand investment on the sun is considered to be an asset as after the marriage he will be able to bring dowry in the house and wood also continue The legacy of the family which is considered of utmost importance in our Indian societies.
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is also one of the reasons behind the fear of the families to have a girl in their home as due to the increased cases of rape and sexual harassment of women has caused worry in the minds of the families. But instead of killing them by themselves we need to teach them how to be strong and fight back and need to empower them so that they can take care of themselves.
Use of improved Technologies
Due to the presence of Technology like the sex identification abortion sonography has led to the increase in the cases of female foeticides because it has become really easy for people to find the sex of the child before they are born which helps them.
All these reasons are really depressing and shows the double studies of a society in which on one hand we praise female deities and on the other hand we kill them even before they are born.
Government has tried to do something in this area to reduce such crimes so let’s try to know about them to be responsible and vigilant citizens of this country.
Steps taken by government
The Government of India has enacted Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal diagnostic techniques Act 1994 to stop female foeticides in India and to balance the declining sex ratio. It has banned the prenatal sex determination which is done to determine the sex of the child before being born. And it is very much required to stop such cases. It regulates the use of prenatal diagnostic techniques like ultrasound as these are used to identify genetic abnormalities genital malformations and sex linked disorders.
And the person who has put any kind of advertisement regarding the prenatal sex determination would be fined Rs.10000 or he or she would be imprisoned for 3 years. This act was also amended in 2003.
- The ministry of information and Communication Technology has also focused on keeping a surveillance on advertisements related to prenatal sex determination.
- Section 315 of the Indian Penal Code define the provisions regarding the female infanticide which means the Killing of the female infant between the age of Herbert to the age when she becomes 1 year old. It also has provisions regarding crimes of female foeticide and murder.
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme has also worked on protecting girls from gender based abortions and providing them with facilities for their education and development it was basically Made In response to the decreasing sex ratio of the country the noodle ministry under it was the ministry of women and child development and this scheme has proved to be beneficial as it has helped in increasing the sex ratio and in many states this X ratio has been above 1000 like in the Kerala state where it is 1024 female per 1000 male.
Ladli scheme and Kanya Kosh scheme
Haryana has been the state with the lowest sex ratio which is around 824 females for thousand males and to address such low sex ratio the Haryana government has enacted schemes like ladli and Kanya kosh. In the ladli scheme a financial reward of 5000 would be provided to the family in which the second girl child is born and there be provided with this money for the next 5 years.
And after that in the year 2015 the Haryana government also enacted the kanyako scheme in which the first girl child was also included and given financial support.
And in different states of a country different schemes and programs have been initiated to improve the status of girl child in our society.
Solutions to female foeticide
Education
Education is the most essential resolution to the problems related to women in our Indian society. We need to educate women and need to empower them so that they are able to make good decisions for themselves.
Husband a girl is educated and she knows about society, how it works and about many little dimensions that are not known to them. If they are not educated, if they are educated at a good scale then they would be able to make people understand the reasons behind many things.
For example women are always considered to be the reason behind the birth of a girl child where according to the scientific methodology it is the men’s sperm which determine the sex of the child and there is no responsibility of the women. There are many cases in which women are brutally beaten up just because they are not able to bear a girl child but this society is not ready to accept the fact that it’s not the women’s problem, it’s just a natural process on which she does not have any command or control.
Awareness
We need to spread awareness in this area as people are not much conscious about this issue and treat it as a normal thing. Various NGOs work towards this cause.
Socio-cultural Changes
Socio-cultural Changes societies the key player behind this kind of treatment with the women face the societal norms and practices make it very normal although it is not at all a normal thing the death of a girl child before being born in this world is not at all a normal thing, the values need to change, we need to teach our children about what is good and what is bad for them and the change is really really required.
Conclusion
India needs to work in These areas to have a good picture in the world. We can’t just ignore the social issues that society is facing and the consequences of which will make us suffer in the future. We need to treat women as Natural human beings rather than just being treated as any object which can be manipulated and exploited in whichever way others want. They need the decisions to be respected as God has created them in the same way as everyone has been. We definitely need to spread awareness regarding this to have a positive impact.
