Female foeticide: Anganwadi workers to turn whisleblowers

The state government plans to rope in more than 4,000 anganwadi workers across Maharashtra to play the role of whistleblowers against families and doctors misusing sonography machines to identify and abort female foetuses.

The shameful drop in girl child ratio to 880 per 1,000 males has propelled the state to initiate new measures to tackle the social menace.

The misuse of sonography machines in the backward regions of Nandurbar, Chandrapur, Akola, Gondia and Buldhana has posed a new challenge to the administration. The decision to discreetly engage anganwadi workers as monitoring agents is the brainchild of Varsha Gaikwad, minister for women and child welfare.

Gaikwad said, “An unassuming, low-profile anganwadi worker is the best bet. Through their close conventional networking, they can elicit all details about developments in a family. They can also alert the administration about the misuse of sonography.”

The minister admitted that sonography machines are often perceived as a boon among weaker sections of society who opt for a male child without fear of the law. Former health minister Vimal Mundada took concrete steps to check the misuse of machines. Medical practitioners often take advantage of loopholes in the legal system to manipulate it to their advantage.

Not one to give up the fight against the skewed sex ratio, Gaikwad has travelled more than 2,000km criss-crossing parts of Marathwada, Vidarbha, western Maharashtra and Thane regions. She said, “It is a phenomenon that has broken economic and social barriers.”