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| Sex Selection |
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- In India 7000 fewer girl children are born everyday than expected [1].
- In 2001 the child sex ratio in India stood at 927 girls per 1000 boys [2].
- In Punjab approximately one fifth of the girl child population is missing [3].
Over the last few decades, pressure from the Indian government and individuals' desire to
reduce family size has coincided with modern medical technological advances to devastating
effect. Despite its illegality, sex-determination testing and the subsequent abortion of the foetus
if it is found to be female, is flourishing. If families are to have two children only, then one must
surely be a boy, the argumentation is. The trend is most apparent when you examine the sex
ratio at birth (SRB) of the third child born to parents who already have two girls; a study
conducted in Delhi revealed that the SRB when this is the case dropped to a low of 219 girls per
1000 boys.[4]
The phenomenon of female infanticide has been 'refined'[5] and son preference can now be
enacted on a new, extreme scale. Technology is indulging a social desire which was formerly
checked by the harsh reality of committing murder. The poor enforcement of the law which
prohibits sex selection, (PC & PNDT Act, 1994) only further reinforces the fact that Indian society
as a whole has little drive to change its longstanding preference for boys. 2006 saw the first
conviction under this act, 12 years after it was passed[6]. What message does this give out?
Whereas only 2 districts in India had a child sex ratio under 850:1000 in 1991, by 2001 this had
risen to a staggering 51 districts. Given the change from 1991 to 2001, these figures, now nearly
6 years out of date surely mask an even grimmer reality. Recent reports of a survey of Delhi
hospitals by the Registrar of Births reveal that only 514 girls were born for every 1000 boys at
Moolchand hospital in July in 2005[7].
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| CSR's Role |
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| Sex selection is a big problem in India, which CSR has been addressing for a number of years.
In 2007 and 2008, it was an area of particular priority for the organization, culminating in the
“Meri Shakti Meri Beti” (My Daughter, My Strength) research project and our “From Campus to
Community” awareness raising campaign. The research project was concerned with providing
a situational analysis of the state of action taken by existing agencies ad conducting an impact
assessment study of existing IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) material, as well
as preparing a road map for eliminating female foeticide on the long term. The awareness raising
campaign was active in colleges and universities in Delhi, and included activities such as putting
up posters, handing out flyers, a community on Orkut (a popular social networking site), creating
banners, street plays and a public gathering at India Gate. You can read more about it here. |
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UNICEF SOWC report 2007
Census 2001, Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs
Ibid
Varghese, J. Aruldas, V., and Jeemon P. 2005, Analysis of trends in sex ratio at birth of hospitalized deliveries in the State of Delhi, Christian Medical Association of
India, July, New Delhi.
Observation by Dr Shirish S. Sheth, "Missing female births in India" The Lancet 2006; 367: 185-6
'Child Sex Ratio' pamphlet, UNICEF, 2006.
Indian Express, 30/01/06
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