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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Plan to relax ban on sex determination tests draws sharp reactions by Aarti Dhar

Plan to relax ban on sex determination tests draws sharp reactions by Aarti Dhar

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published Published on Oct 9, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 9, 2011

AIDWA wants Planning Commission proposal immediately withdrawn

The Planning Commission's proposal for relaxing the ban on sex determination tests has evoked sharp reactions, both for and against. The proposal envisages relaxing the rules for sex determination in foetus but giving incentives to stakeholders and mothers, if it is a girl child, to ensure safe delivery.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Shantha Sinha says the government should ensure the safety of the foetuses through anganwadi workers, auxiliary nurse midwives and accredited social health activists (ASHAs).

Adoption is to be interpreted as taking charge of the health of a woman, tracking every pregnancy from conception to the time the child is at least two years old, whether boy or girl child. The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act alone is not sufficient to combat foeticide.

However, the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has strongly condemned the Planning Commission's proposal to promote “adoption” of unwanted female foetuses to stem the continuous decline in child sex ratios.

The ban on sex selection came after a long struggle by women's and health rights organisations in the face of stiff opposition from certain sections of the medical profession, which have utilised the existing son-preference to earn huge amounts of money by indulging in sex-selective practices, said a statement issued by AIDWA president Shyamali Gupta and general secretary Sudha Sundararaman.

The statement said the Planning Commission's regressive move, made in the name of “flexibility and choice,” was tantamount to accepting the argument that sex selection was a matter of “freedom of choice,” which had already been struck down by courts while upholding the PC&PNDT Act.

However, both the 2001 and the 2011 Census reports had clearly shown that the implementation of the Act had been tardy.

The AIDWA said: “It is most unfortunate that the Planning Commission is actually proposing to undermine existing legal safeguards, by making this preposterous proposal that will only encourage the virtual abandonment of a large number of girl children. It is well known that conditions of most orphanages and remand homes are deplorable, and innumerable cases of physical and sexual abuse, trafficking, etc. have come to light. The solution is not to ‘incentivise' the adoption of female foetuses, but to encourage the birth of girls with a slew of economic and social measures that will help to root out the discrimination faced by them. We demand that the proposal should be immediately withdrawn.”

The AIDWA plans to petition the Planning Commission and the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Human Resource Development, Panchayati Raj and Information and Broadcasting in this regard.

The Human Rescue Team (a live knowledge network for human rescue from institutions from India and abroad) on Saturday said it was “legally opposing” the proposal of relaxed sex determination of foetus as it violated the medical ethics and reasonably endangered the girl child.

“Erroneous idea”

In a petition filed with the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women, the NCPCR and the Prime Minister's Office, the team said it found the idea erroneous. “We are also afraid that an arbitrary relaxation in sex determination tests and attached incentives may cause a tremendous increase in female foeticides and even run the risk of projecting girls as a money earning mechanism that may be an uncalled burden on the national economy.”

Proposal violates medical ethics: Human Rescue Team
Government should ensure safety of foetuses: NCPCR


The Hindu, 9 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2522253.ece


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