Alarmingly, sex ratios are lowest in posh urban areas (826 in Mumbai’s suburbs and 774 in south Mumbai), followed by the state’s other urban centres.
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra State Women’s Commission (MSWC) is trying to save girls who don’t even get a chance to be born.
Alarmed by the high rate of growth in female foeticide, the state government has roped the MSWC to save the girl child.
Despite it being illegal, pre-natal sex determination is still being used to favour the male foetus. The commission has now been empowered to handle complaints from women forced into the practice. It will clamp down on the doctors involved.
Alarmingly, sex ratios are lowest in posh urban areas (826 in Mumbai’s suburbs and 774 in south Mumbai), followed by the state’s other urban centres — Pune, Kolhapur, Nagpur, and Nasik.
According to MSWC member secretary Sudha Bhave, the state has the maximum number of ultrasonography centres (3,905 of 22,378 registered across the country) capable of sex-determination procedures. She says it will be an uphill task to convince doctors at these centres to refrain from disclosing the sex of the foetus.
The highest number of infanticide and foeticide cases is recorded in Maharashtra, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Bihar.
Recent research by Dr Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health Research, Toronto, shows that Maharashtra has a sex ratio of 749, if the first born is a female. This goes up to 1,168 if the first born is a male. The researchers said “the sex of a previous child or children affects the sex ratio of the current birth, with fewer females born as second or third children to families who are yet to have a boy.”
MSWC is now planning a drive to sensitise doctors. There will also be a survey to map such incidents and the use of sex determination techniques. “The phenomenon is particularly menacing in urban areas like south Mumbai. We are conducting a workshop and inviting other states so that we understand what is required to tackle the problem,” Bhave said.
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