/shethepeople/media/media_files/33YwTlO6GSC4sq4EUwYs.png)
Image: Tribune
The skewed sex ratio in India is not just a statistic, it is a chilling reality check. A recent report by the Bihar government revealed a continually declining female sex ratio at birth (SRB), pointing out the deepening female foeticide problem in India. The Health Management Information System (HMIS) report of the Ministry of Health for 2023-24 showed that there were only 882 female births per 1000 males in 2023-24, a sharp plunge from 894 in 2022-23 and 914 in 2021-22.
Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey told the Press Trust of India, "The declining sex ratio in the state is a matter of serious concern... Female foeticide is also a moral and social issue. We appeal to people to save the girl child." He added that a range of strategies have been initiated to improve the gender disparity in the state.
Bihar's birth sex ratio: A Case study on India's female foeticide issue
According to the recent report, Vaishali is the worst-performing district where the SRB is below 800 in 2023-24, followed by Bhojpur (801), Saran (805), Gopalganj (837), Arwal (844), Jamui (845), Jehanabad (852), Nawada (858), Patna and Sheohar (862 each), and West Champaran (864).
In the previous year, the SRB in the lowest-reporting districts were -- Vaishali (819), Bhojpur (811), Saran (821), Gopalganj (848), Arwal (884), Jamui (884), Jehanabad (859), Nawada (896), Patna (889), Sheohar (884) and West Champaran (875).
Meanwhile, certain districts in the state have shown an increase in the birth sex ratio in 2023-24. These include Siwan (from 857 in 2022-23 to 881 in 2023-24), Sheikhpura (from 880 to 892 in 2023-24), Banka (from 898 to 909), Bhagalpur (from 917 to 925 ) and Kishanganj (from 926 to 929).
What is being done to better Bihar's crisis?
Mangal Pandey told the media that the government has initiated some policies to address the low SRB in Bihar. According to the Health Minister, the state's Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojna and Centre's Beti Bachao Beti Padhao are some of the programs that aim to tackle the problem.
The government reportedly aims to financially cover the period of a girl's life from birth to graduation to promote the birth of the girl child and prevent female foeticide. Additionally, some of the initiatives are aimed at sensitizing the public, training, and mobilising communities at the ground level.
According to PTI, Bihar Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena recently held a meeting of the departments concerned over the issue and instructed senior officials and district administrations to ensure that the PC-PNDT is enforced strictly. This act regulates the use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques like ultrasound and amniocentesis, by allowing them only to detect abnormalities.
Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, Additional Chief Secretary of the Social Welfare Department and Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Women & Child Development Corporation told PTI, "A letter has already been sent to all DMs across the state to ensure strict enforcement of the PC-PNDT Act in their respective areas and effective implementation of the schemes meant to check gender disparity and empower women in the state. This includes intensifying awareness campaigns in the state".
Case study 2: Karnataka's foeticide rackets
In a shocking incident in December 2023, a team of health officials found a 22-week-old female foetus in the dustbin of a private hospital in Karnataka. The hospital's owner-cum-doctor, Srinivasa, was arrested along with two nurses, a housekeeping staff, and a technician. The SG Hospital in Bengaluru Rural district has been sealed and an investigation is going on to trace more details about all the illegal abortions that the hospital facilitated. So far the police have found eight records of foeticides by Srinivasa since 2022.
A huge illegal abortion racket that conducted over 900 foeticides was busted in Karnataka's Mysuru and Mandya in November 2023. To curb this rising rate of foeticides in the State, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao announced setting up a state-level task force, policies, and amendments to the existing legislation, a day after news of the SG Hospital incident came to light.
To address this disturbing issue, the Karnataka Government announced the introduction of a task force to tackle rising female foeticides. The State Government also mentioned that they are taking steps to amend the existing legislation and formulating new policies to address the grave issue.
Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao told the Legislative Assembly that the department officials have been directed to conduct spot inspections regularly and acknowledged the ineffective implementation of the PC-PNDT Act. "If you look at civil registration data, last year it was 947 females for 1,000 men, this year it is 929. It has come down," Health Minister Rao said in the Assembly in December 2023.
Despite these efforts, in May 2024, another foeticide racket was busted in the state involving government healthcare workers. A police case was booked in Mandya district against a ‘D’ group employee and an ambulance driver of a government hospital for orchestrating a racket in the department’s staff quarters in Pandavapura. While the Health Department filed an FIR and dismissed the two staffers, who were hired on contract, Mandya police are on a massive manhunt for the people who are part of the illegal abortion racket run by government staffers.
Case Study 3: Odisha's fluctuating sex ratio
The SRB in Odisha has gone down from 948 in 2014-15 to 926 in 2023-24, Savitri Thakur, the state's Minister of Women and Child Development recently told the Rajya Sabha. However, the figure improved from 918 in 2014-15 to 930 in 2023-24 at the national level, she added.
Case Study 4: Haryana's reward for reporting female foeticide
In February, Haryana's Health Ministry reported that only 916 female births per 1,000 males were registered in 2023. The SRB has been continuously fluctuating over the last few years-- 923 in 2019, 922 in 2020, 914 in 2021, and 917 in 2022. Out of the 22 districts in Haryana, nine performed the worst in 2023-- Rohtak, Rewari, Mahendergar, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Sonipat, Yamuna Nagar, Jind, and Chakhri Dadri-- with a severe drop over the years.
In response, the government announced a ₹1 lakh reward to anyone who reports cases of female foeticide. Notably, 85 FIRs were registered in 2023 against 105 FIRs lodged in 2022 under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) and Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Acts.
India to see only slight improvements in the next decade: Report
In August 2024, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the Women and Men in India 2023 report, which predicted that the population of India is expected to reach 152.2 Crore by 2036, with a meagrely improved female percentage of 48.8% as compared to 48.5% in 2011.
The report said that India's population in 2036 is expected to be more feminine compared to the 2011 population, as reflected in the sex ratio which is projected to increase from 943 in 2011 to 952 by 2036, highlighting a positive trend in gender equality.
NCRB 2022 data shows that a large number of girls in India are missing
The NCRB 2022 report revealed that more than 50,000 children are missing and 70 per cent of them are female minors. According to the report, a total number of 83,350 children are missing. Out of these, 20,380 are male, 62,946 are female and 24 are transgender.
The large number of missing girls shows that our society is still practising social evils like female foeticide and infanticide. It shows that girls are still considered a burden to the family. And society did not take too much time to prove this right. The case of the abandoned female fetus in a private hospital proves our fears right.
The mindset it takes to kill a fetus for its gender
After reading about the case, the first question that came to my mind was how could someone be so unkind and inhumane as to kill a fetus just because of its gender? How could someone decide whether a person has the right to live or not based on the sex they are born with?
It takes a corrupted mindset to assume that a girl child doesn't deserve to live. The mindset denies that the child is a human with all the rights to have a healthy and happy life. The mindset considers the child, which hasn't even started to act, a curse, burden or result of ill fate. It is this mindset which later disrespects women who get the chance to live and find every way possible to snatch that 'golden' chance.
Many people come and say that feminism is no longer required. That women are now so empowered that they are misusing their rights. But, ironically, in another world, we are fighting for the most basic right- the right to live. When the fight is for such a basic need, we automatically become grateful for the basic freedom we gain in life. So we cannot blame those women who trade one right to gain another.
If cases like these come to the fore, every woman will be afraid of the corrupt mindset which might come their way at any point in life. The only factor that might save them is their luck because our society is not ready to accept its fault. If it did, educated people like doctors wouldn't perform sex selection, illegal abortion or female foeticide. In November 2023, another female foeticide racket was busted in Chennai. A doctor and 2 women were arrested in the case.
It is said that the future lies in the hands of the educated people of the country. But if those people themselves have a corrupted mindset, who will save us?
You might be thinking why am I asking others to save women? Why I am not encouraging women to save themselves? I just have one line answer to your query- women can save themselves only when they are allowed to live.
Views expressed are the author's own.