Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Call to stem dipping sex ratio-Radhika Ramaseshan

Call to stem dipping sex ratio-Radhika Ramaseshan

Share this article Share this article
published Published on May 1, 2012   modified Modified on May 1, 2012

The National Advisory Council has asked the Centre to formulate a national policy to stem the declining sex ratio at birth that it believed was “located at the complex interface of the status of women in Indian society, patriarchal social mores and prejudice, spread and misuse of medical technology and the changing aspirations of urban and rural society”.

The council’s draft recommendations — prepared by members Farah Naqvi and A.K. Shiva Kumar and posted on its website for comments — outlined four major constituents that could be a “guide and a template” for initiatives the Centre and the states might take in the future.

These were strengthening the present legal regime to prevent the abuse of medical technology for sex selection and developing a legislative framework that included, but was not confined to, the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PC and PNDT Act).

The NAC, headed by Sonia Gandhi, also called for reviewing other gender-related laws and policies, including the dowry prohibition law, sexual assault amendments to the IPC and the national population policy.

It also suggested revisiting the current schemes of conditional cash transfers meant for the education of girls in schools and colleges.

Naqvi and Kumar noted that the “key considerations” for drafting a national policy should be gender equity and gender justice and not just restricting it to decreasing birth of girl children, inter-sectoral planning and action, and safeguarding reproductive rights and the right to safe and legal abortion.

On the last, they recommended that the national policy must “specifically exhort governments and civil society actors to move away from the practice of pregnancy-tracking as a method of reducing sex selection”.

“Declining sex ratio is an issue that enters the private domain of pregnancy, abortion and the right to choose.”

On the laws, they explained that there was need to go beyond the “single legal remedy” of the PC and PNDT Act because the act itself could become “redundant” with the spread of new technology, including pre- conception genetic manipulation.

Listing the 16 existing cash incentive schemes initiated by the Centre and the states that include the Dhan Lakshmi Scheme, Ladli Lakshmi, the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana and the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah Yojana, Balri Rakshak etc, the NAC members questioned their ability to directly change perceptions about a daughter’s worth.

“For example, some schemes provide incentives only if the couple accepts sterilisation after two children, others limit the incentive only to two girls, with a larger incentive for the first girl as compared to the second,” Naqvi and Kumar pointed out.

“Do schemes inadvertently end up valuing girls differentially depending on their positions in the birth order?”

They sounded sceptical about targeting poor families with cash incentives, stating that their analysis of the child sex ratio from the 2001 census showed that ratios were lower among the educated and the affluent, especially in cities and towns.

So they emphasised that sex selection required social and behavioural change. “In an era of a communications revolution, effective and well-planned communications strategies can make a dent.”

They said that the strategies should specially target young unmarried women who are “most open to questioning received wisdom” and have the “greatest discomfort with sex selection”.

The NAC members also pushed communications advocacy to be accompanied by grassroots mobilisation through panchayati raj institutions, unions, co-operatives, self-help groups etc.

The Telegraph, 1 May, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120501/jsp/nation/story_15439627.jsp#.T598hVL5nYQ


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close