Panel was formed to prohibit sex determination tests, which leads to the killing of girl child in the country.
Even as the declining girl child sex ratio in the state continues to evoke immense concern, the government does not seem to take the issue too seriously.
Despite the plummeting number of the girl child in the state, the state inspection and monitoring committee - which is supposed to ensure the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (PCPNDT) Act, or, in simpler words, prohibit sex determination tests - has not met even once in nearly two years.
In fact, a few doctors who are on the committee doubt if all the members are even aware of its existence. Dr Sanjay Gupte, president of Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), said, “There has been no meeting for one and half years. There is a smaller district committee which at least meets once in two or three months,” said Gupte.
A leading doctor who is part of the district committee said that one of the reasons why efforts of agencies working against sex selection go in vain is the lack of central leadership. “Local level committees are working but there is no authority to either crack the whip or to co-ordinate efforts. It’s like this idea worked there, let’s get it here as well. And that’s why working in this area has become highly localised; everyone is working to beat the other district’s performance,” he said.
While the committee set up to keep a check on sex determination tests have not met for a long time, the women and child welfare department has initiated steps to save the girl child and improve the sex ratio in the state. The government, in the meantime, is planning to examine various schemes, including fixed deposit schemes initiated by various state governments like Delhi and Gujarat for the welfare of the girl child.
The women and child welfare department will examine schemes like depositing a sum of Rs5,000 in the National Savings Certificate (NSC), which on maturity, when the girl child turns 18 years of age, will amount to Rs1 lakh. The state deposits a certain amount in mutual fund schemes when a girl child is born. This amount can be utilised for the welfare of the girl child after she attains a certain age.
“Even a state like Gujarat, which had a sex ratio of 705 females to 1,000 males, the ratio has now improved to 905 females per 1,000 males. The state women and child welfare minister Varsha Gaikwad has taken a serious note of the issue and is looking at improving the sex ratio,” said a state government official.
What is worrisome is that even with high literacy levels the city fails to match districts like Ratnagiri, where the ratio is 1,136 female to 1,000 males, and Sindhudurg, where it is 1,079 females to 1,000 males.
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