"Around 10 lakhs girls will be eliminated from India in the coming few years," said Dr Sabu George, fellow, inter-cultural resources.
“Around 10 lakhs girls will be eliminated from India in the coming few years,” said Dr Sabu George, fellow, inter-cultural resources, during one of the group discussions organised by Vimochana and Asian Women’s Human Rights Council on Femicide: the role of science and technology.
Titled Daughters of Fire, this discussion was a part of the six round table talks of ‘India Court of Women on Dowry and Related Forms of Violence against Women’, which began at Christ University on Monday.
Talking about the 1,000 crore business of sex selection in India, he said, “The number of ultra sound clinics in many states have doubled in the past few years. The number of female foetuses killed in India over the past seven years exceeds the number of Jews exterminated during the Holocaust by the Nazis. Data for 2005-2006 reveals that India and China together do away with more girls annually than the number of girls born in the US,” he added.
Activists, doctors and members of different NGOs from across the country took part in the discussion. Anjali Shenoy from Sama Resource Group for Women and Health, an NGO based in Delhi, spoke extensively about the unprecedented growth of Assisted Reproductive Clinics (ARTs) in India. “These clinics have created new commodities in the market. From sperm to embryo — everything is available. There are people who are willing to buy and sell these products. Thanks to these clinics, you can get pregnant through artificial or partially artificial means,” she said. However, she said that there was a total lack of awareness about the side-effects of these procedures. “There is no data available about the exact number of such Clinics in India. No research works are being done about the side effects of these artificial procedures too. Moreover, there is misinformation about the success rates,” she said.
According to information available with Sama, hundreds of Indians flock to the US clinics for sex selection every year. “People are willing to spend Rs8.5 lakhs to select the sex of their child. There are clinics in Mumbai which help these clients find suitable clinics abroad too,” Anjali added.
Technology gives impetus to prejudices
Talking about the crucial role that doctors play in this million dollar business of sex selection, Dr Puneet Bedi, a Delhi-based doctor, who was in the city, said that for most of the doctors, this is a low-risk, high-profit commerce. He added that too many medical colleges in India, illegal procurement of medical seats, violation of the medical oath and improper private medical education system are some of the main reasons for such killings.
Donna Fernandes from Vimochana said that while there are existent prejudices like preference for sons in India, science and technology is exploiting these biases, making matters worse.
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