#dnaEdit: Gender minder

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week urged the nation to save the girl child and educate her — beti bachao beti padhao (BBBP) — 2,000 girls had died. They were either killed in the womb, or at birth, or had fallen victim to diseases or gender crimes. It happens every day, through the year, across the country, without so much as a murmur of protest.

Modi’s choice of venue — Panipat in Haryana — from where he launched a slew of measures to fight gender imbalance and discrimination against the girl child — was, of course, loaded with symbolism. The state with the worst sex ratio in the country is notorious for foeticide and female infanticide, where khap panchayats enjoy political patronage, and where crime against women is an accepted norm. Alarmed by the sharp decline in sex ratio — 874 women for 1,000 males — the Supreme Court on January 20, 2015, directed the Haryana government to submit a list of all pending cases pertaining to sex determination to the chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court, who would then ensure that the trials are completed by May. The apex court’s earnestness was clear when it asked the state government to ensure that the persons handling investigations under the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act be imparted specialised training.

The BBBP scheme deserves praise for its multi-pronged strategy — weaving in financial incentive (Sukanya Samridhi Yojana) and infrastructual support. The campaign, a joint initiative of the ministry of women and child development, the ministry of health and family welfare and the ministry of human resource development, will be first implemented nationwide in 100 districts with abysmal sex ratios. Apart from strictly enforcing the existing laws against sex determination, drives to ensure proper education to girls, improving the sex ratio and empowering women would also be undertaken. Yet, there is a nagging suspicion that like all government drives, this too will fall by the wayside sooner than later. 

For one, the Prime Minister, in spite of his intent and will, seems to be missing the forest for the trees. The deeply embedded patriarchal culture in Indian society is the biggest impediment to a reform of this nature. To tackle gender disparities and ensure a conducive environment for the girl child will require a steely political resolve. That, perhaps, is too much to ask. Over the years, political parties have consistently shied away from taking decisions that might upset established ethos and mores — no matter how regressive and anachronistic they might be. This reluctance has only given birth to bigger disasters. For instance, the researchers in Queens University in Ontario, Canada, have revealed that in 1,300 villages in Haryana and Rajasthan, there has been a 30 per cent increase in incidence of girls being bought from other parts of the country for a steep price or lured or coerced into marriage. The economic repercussions are no less grave. A study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation shows that women, if better utilised in the workforce, have the potential to add 10 per cent to India’s GDP. 

Modi has to look no further than China which is now being haunted by the ripple effects of a skewed sex ratio, which is as bad as India’s and Vietnam’s. The preponderance of males in Chinese society, and its dangerous impact on the economy and law and order, have forced the government to increase its oversight of foetal sex determination — a practice that has been banned in the country. 

For the BBBP movement to yield results, the Centre and the state governments will have to work in tandem and on a war-footing. But, more importantly, the new approach has to seep into the rusted outlook of a society that it still considers women as paraya dhan.