Drive to ensure right sex ratio in Maharashtra

Stumped by the declining child sex ratio in the city, the state government and the BMC have decided to strengthen the implementation of the Preconception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994, in the state.

While the BMC has decided to increase the frequency of its meetings with obstetricians and gynaecologists in the city, the state government has decided to form a network of informants with the help of the police to locate sonography centres across Maharashtra where illegal sex determination tests are conducted and sex-selective abortions are carried out.

Dr Asha Advani, special officer in the BMC’s family welfare department, said: “We have been holding weekly meetings with the doctors and staffers. The idea is to create fear in about the consequences.

Many doctors shared their experiences on how they still keep getting requests from well-to-do couples who are willing to pay huge sums of money to get a sex determination test done. What stunned me was the doctors said they are often pressurised by politicians and the police as the couples are known to them. We have tried to convince doctors not to get pressurised and report to us.”

According to figures of Census 2011, the child sex ratio in the city (in the 0-6 age group) has fallen from 922 in 2001 to a dismal 874 in 2011.