March 5, 2011: Today is my frst day teaching spoken and written English

to ffth graders at a school for underpriileged children in Mum!ai" # had !een

instructed earlier that morning to allow students to walk in late !ecause they
had to complete household chores !efore class" # hae !een waiting for half
an hour, and $upa is still missing" %hen she walks into class, # ask her why
she is late, e&pecting a lame e&cuse" #nstead she cheerfully responds in
'indi, (Teacher, my mom told me that since my !rother has to come to
school, he cannot fll the water) so she made me stay !ack and do it"* 'er
!rother Mahesh is in the same class" # am appalled to see this discrimination
!etween a !rother and sister !y their own parents, unaware that this is what
# will e&perience eery day # teach at this school"
This was the frst time # was introduced to the grae discrimination that
e&isted !etween men and women in #ndia" 'aing this e&perience opened
my eyes to the many harsh realities of the nature of the crime committed
against women, mainly that of female foeticide and infanticide" The normal
!irth ratio around the world is a!out 105 !oys for eery 100 girls" +ut this
has not !een the case in many countries, particularly in #ndia and ,hina, the
oldest suriing economies of the world" The 2011 population census
indicates that there are 5 crore more males than females in our country"
-emale foeticide is one of the worst case scenarios which women face today
in #ndia" #ronically, some of the worst gender ratios, indicating gross iolation
of women.s rights, are found in many parts of the country" #t is for this
reason that the se& ratio of girls to !oys in many parts of the country has
dropped to fewer than /00 girls per 1000 males"
#n 1050, when the ,onstitution of #ndia came into e&istence, it was declared
that man and woman are e1ual and it also prohi!ited any kind of
discrimination against women" +ut in reality, o!stacles to the emancipation
of women had not !een eliminated at all" This is !ecause many of the
pro!lems which women hae !een facing for seeral centuries are not yet
soled" This deep2rooted discrimination against women originated a few
thousands year ago, and it still continues today" Many think that, historically,
in the a!sence of generic testing, infanticide was the only inhuman option for
discarding the female child and that it arose as a result of cultural changes,
illiteracy rates, practice of dowry, downgrading status of women etc" This
heinous practice continues today in parts of #ndia" Though ways may ary,
the result is the same" #t seems that no amount of legislation can change the
position of women, as has !een seen !y our society in recent decades" To
change the position of the woman in today.s society, we need to start
iewing them as ital mem!ers of the family" More importantly, women need
to !eliee in themseles, for unless they do, daughters will continue to die as
unwanted foetuses"
#ndia.s legal framework stipulates e1ual rights for all" #n practice, howeer,
une1ual power e1uations !etween males and females hae led to iolations
of women.s reproductie rights" 3ot only the girl child !ut also grown females
hae often !een ictims of the greatest forms of discrimination" # don.t think
any country in the world has more laws for the protection, well2!eing and
!etterment of woman and still a ma4ority of women in the country are
su5ering" 6 lifetime systematic gender !ias for the #ndian girl child !egins in
the mother.s wom! itself" -emale foeticide is one of the eents leading the
#ndian gender discrimination and atrocities against women are on the rise in
the midst of progressie ideas of li!eralisation and glo!ali7ation" 8ender
9inked a!ortions or :e& :electie 6!ortions ;::6< hae !ecome rampant"
%hat we need is a special legal action to restrict the killings of the !a!y girls
in the wom!s and after !irth" There is a need to safeguard reproductie
rights of woman against the inasion for commercial and economic interest"
9egal interention is a good way of dealing with this serious issue, 'oweer a
stricter implementation is re1uired so as to eliminate its namesake e&istence
and manipulation !y people with ested interests"
%e need a law which would seerely punish the defaulting medical
practitioners who do scanning and remoe the foetus for the only reason that
it is the female" %e need such a law which would punish heartless parents
who asked for male children and killed their daughter !efore she is !orn"
%hat is also important is that apart from merely penalising for crime or
female foeticide, the law should also seek to preent it" The law did not
recognise female foeticide as a separate pro!lem until ery recently"
6lthough there was a comprehensie law relating to a!ortion which is
applica!le een to the a!ortion of female foetuses, the policy !ehind framing
a law to com!at the pro!lem of female foeticide !eing di5erent, the law
relating to a!ortion was insu=cient" #n fact since the law of a!ortion has
!een li!eralised, it is counter2productie as far as the pro!lem of female
foeticide is concerned"
6part from the pro!lem of ine5ectieness the law poses another serious
pro!lem and that is > who should !e punished? :hould the mother !e
punished? :hould a hus!and, in2laws and relaties !e punished? 6nd in this
case apart from the family, there is the additional party in the medical
practitioners" The act proides that he ought to !e punished !ut leaes the
1uestion of reocation of licensed to the #ndian medical 6ssociation which
rarely takes any action in such cases" The laws and 6ct appear to hae little
more than sym!olic worth, as they do not address the pro!lem of se&
determination in a comprehensie way and they do not een possess the
mechanism necessary or its e5ectieness" The legislation does not 1uestion
the use of prenatal techni1ues as such it only relates to regulate the moties
of its use"
:ome of the inade1uacies and loopholes are2
the law makes no proision at all for the registration of ultrasound
machines or other sophisticated machines and e1uipments used for
this purpose simply !ecause he is also used for arious other purposes)
there is nothing in the law which may challenge the techni1ues of se&
preselection which are reportedly !een practised in arious parts of the
countries in which with the rapid deelopment in technology will soon
!ecome an easily accessi!le method for determining the se& of the
foetus")
The law proides that no person conducting prenatal diagnostic procedures
shall communicate to the pregnant woman or her relaties the se&
!efore it is my words, signed or in any other manner" 'oweer it
leaes enough scope for a leak within the framework of legality" There
is nothing in the act which for instance !ars the communication of such
information to non2relaties" @ne wonders if there will !e any pro!lem
in case information is passed on through friends or to the woman.s
relaties)
There is no proision in legislation for the creation of any local igilance
committee which could contri!ute to the e5ectie implementation of
the act)
The name of the registered medical practitioner conicted !y the court will
hae to !e reported !y the 6ppropriate 6uthority to the respectie
state medical ,ouncil for taking necessary action including the remoal
of his name from the registrar of the ,ouncil for two years for the frst
o5ences and permanently for su!se1uent o5ence" The law does not
howeer specify any time period within which this action has to !e
taken !y it"
The law in its present form is addressed to the limited purpose of dealing
with the pro!lem of selectie female e&amination howeer it does not
raise any dou!t regard its desira!ility, the safety, or social implications
of the techni1ues"
The A3BT 6ct can !ecome e5ectie on the following points are taken into
consideration:
8oernment and non2goernment organi7ations to try to eole a working
group of olunteers to educate people a!out this)
These working group should !e empowered to lodge complaints and
monitor the implementation of the act)
9icenses for prenatal diagnosis should !e restricted to goernment
institutions and strict igilance should !e kept there)
The woman undergoing se& determination tests, !eing a ictim rather than
the preferred of the crime should not !e punished"
#n the recent legal deelopments, the +om!ay 'igh ,ourt on 2C 6ugust 2011
upheld Dolhapur Bistrict ,ollectors decision to make it mandatory for all
pathologist using sonography and ultrasound machines to install (The :ilent
@!serer*, a deice which records all sonography images which are than
stored in a centrali7ed serer and can !e reiewed later to track instances of
foeticide" 6lso the 6ssistant Birector of 'ealth :erices, Maharashtra has
recently asked ,entral goernment to call for a !an on all porta!le
sonography machines out of around 25,000 machines" The country has more
laws than it can take care of" 'oweer it is also a fact that laws can !e
e5ectiely implemented only after its awareness a!out the law is widespread
and the people know a!out its e&istence" 6ny 9aw is e5ectie only when it is
implemented in an e5ectie and e=cient manner"