Declining sex ratio (male/female) has very little to do with enforcement of law but has got everything to do with people's attitude. By enforcing the law we can save a couple of unborn children but by changing the mindset of people, many unborn girl children can be saved from being killed when they are still in their mothers' womb.
People only need to be told that a girl is no more a burden on the society!
Its true, especially in a nation like India where the President is a woman, the Speaker in the Parliament is a woman, the major parties in the country are headed by women and the number of women in various male dominated fields is ever-increasing! Besides, a religious nation most of the Indian deities are goddesses!
Recently, ActionAid, an international agency working on issues like hunger, poverty, gender issues etc. held a brain-storming workshop on declining sex ratio in India. It was a co-incident that a day later when I got the invitation for the workshop, a dear friend of mine sent me a link on illegal but rampant use of ultrasound technique in India, for identifying the sex of the foetus and then aborting the same if it is a girl.
The link (a sting operation by a western journalist) in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh was horrifying but was also an eye opener. Even educated people were involved in the henious crime of killing their unborn children - just because they were girls.
A few basic reasons which can be identified o have been working behind this inhuman practice is dowry system. In India dowry system is prevalent in almost all the societies and communities. Even today, most families arrange the marriages of their children and that arrangement brings in the demand for expensive presents - which can be anything ranging from lavish parties to expensive cars or from jewellary to palatial houses.
So the moment a girl is born the first thing that comes to parents' minds is how and from where the dowry would be arranged for her? And to save themselves from this Herculean task many parents decide to abort the child if it is diagnosed to be a girl. For this they depend on ultrasound technique.
The ultrasound is a useful technology to know any genetic deformities in the babies or to keep a track of the proper development of the babies in the womb. However the technology is used more for identifying the sex of the child.
Although the government has made it mandatory for each ultrasound centre to specify that "no sex determination test is done" yet one cannot stop the parents to pay the doctor and also know the sex of the foetus. How can the law find out and if the doctors and the parents (in connivance to each other) misuse the technique and indulge in this illegal practice?
The law can only keep an occasional check on such ultrasound centres but what is actually required is changing the mindset of people.
If a couple understands that a girl is not a burden. She can work in any sector today and excel. She can also be a respectable earning member of the family. Also, it is mostly the daughters who look after their parents when they are old.
Lastly, and most importantly, if someday suppose all women are dead and only men are left - the world would then eventually come to an end as there would not be any new human being. But if all men are dead and only women are left, there would definitely be a few women who are carrying new lives in them and they would continue the world to move forward.
So please all men and women understand the value of being a woman. Don't underestimate her capabilities - a woman is in no way less than a man, rather in some cases she can do what a man cannot do - give birth to a new life!
Stop killing those who are creating the world!
