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| Urgent need to arrest skewed sex ratio. | | Silent genocide in J&K | | With the sensus 2011 data scripting a shocking tale of missing daughter in J&K, there is little cause for celebration in a state that is considered a paradise on Earth. That the state has seen the single largest decline in sex ratio in the country is a frightening indicator that the ancient prejudice against the girl child still looms large in the state. The sex ratio for the age group six and below that has became skewed sharply against the girl child tells the violent story of a state that has failed its girls who are aborted as foeteses or subjected to various forms of violence after birth.
While in 2011 the number of girls per 1000 boys (aged between 0-6) stood at 941, the latest census has shown the numbers going down this time to 859 girls for every 1000 boys in this age category. No other state is even remotely close to J&K's dismal record. And, this despite the fact that the state had a better child sex ratio than the Indian average only a decade back. These figures paint a stark picture of the missing girl children in J&K, confirming a continued preference for the male child. This plummeting child sex ratio only reveals that female foeticide and infanticide continue to be practiced robustly and rampantly in this part of the country. This flies in the face of laws to ban female infanticide and sex determination tests. But the ban is only on paper. This practice is still flourishing because of the low conviction rate.
This dismal ratio underlines the fact that the girl child is still discriminated as a result of our strong bias for the male child. Age old customs and family traditions leading to son preference have a major role in driving most of the families towards committing the shameful crime of sex selective abortions. Despite the progress made on the economic and educational fronts, girl child discrimination is still a reality. Indeed, women have made phenomenal progress in all walks of life. We admire great personalities like Indira Gandhi who have made our nation proud. We have a female president, a female leader of opposition and infact women politicians are at helm in most of the states in India. But still we prefer boys over girls. The perennial question- why don't we welcome a girl child, continues to stare us in the face. What is most disconcerting is that in India where women are worshipped as godesses, we never question our conscience before killing a girl child. Worse, we also illtreat women who have given birth only to females. Female foeticide may be the primary reason for the pathetic scenario in the state but it is definitely not the only one. Most couples whose first borns are boys do not usually go for a second child while it is not the same if the first born is a girl. That there is a continued preference for male child despite efforts to dispel gender inequality is unfortunate.
Son preference is is rooted not only in traditions but in economic reality as well. Despite material prosperity, people still consider girl child a burden. The economic compulsions of raising a girl child including her education, training and also the child's security pressure parents to be to abort a female foetus. Further, the financial pressure put on the parents at the time of the girl's marriage only adds to their woes. Thus, preference to have sons, female foeticide, infanticide, neglect of the girl child and her low status both within home and in society are some of the reasons for declining child gender ratio. Evidently, economic prosperity and education levels have not broken through prejudice against girls that stands in the way of their very right to live.
The chilling statistics, inspite of the Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techiniques Act reveals that the solution does not lie in mere legislative provisions. The Government needs to come down harshly on those who indulge in Pre-Natal Diagnostic tests. Legislation has not really helped. There has to be a greater political will in reversing this trend. Modern technology combined with cultural preference for sons has led to the mushrooming of Diagnostic centres illegally offering sex determination and pregnancy termination services. Those who stand to gain from this illegal and immoral act continue to find ways to beat the law. Legal provisions banning sex determination of an unborn child are easily circumvented by unscrupulous doctors. Infact, a diabolic link exists between sex selection technologies, female foeticide and the falling sex ratio. There have been renewed efforts to give more teeth to the law against sex determination and sex selection. Union Health Minister Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad has finally woken up to the worsening scenario reconstituting an all new Central Supervisory Board (CSB) to ensure a strict implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act, 1994 that bans female foeticide. But, the proof of the pudding lies in the implementation. That is where we have fallen so woefully short.
The pain of J&K's missing daughters also found expression in the heartfelt utterances of the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who minced no words admitting that the skewed sex ratio in the state was a disturbing trend that could be reversed only by a coordinated and well knit approach to address that problem of female foeticide and infanticide. Unusually candid, the CM expressed deep concern over the pathetic scenario laying emphasis on the urgency to sensitise the administration to take measures to start a mass movement so that this scourge is eliminated from the society. He also called upon religious leaders to step in and create awareness among the people so that they do not treat women as humans with lesser rights than men. The good news is that politically opposed leaders from the mainstream as well as separatist camps are making common cause on the crucial issue of declining sex ration in the state. While the concern shown by the moderate Hurriat leader Umer Farooq and JKLF leader Yasin Malik is more than welcome, support from the Hurriat hardline leader Mr Geelani is quite significant. Only a collective force can play a positive role in denting gender prejudices and change things for the better.
Most important, the mindset against the females needs to be broken and the aim should be to holistically empower the girl child in all aspects. To reverse the trend we need a change in the attitudes for no nation or state can claim to be civilised if it condones discrimination against one half of humanity.
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