Despite several laws and Acts prohibiting sex determination, Delhi continues to wrestle with a demographic crisis with numberless instances of people aborting the unborn girl child after undergoing sex determination tests. According to CSR, the Capital’s sex ratio, which was 904 girls for every 1,000 boys in 1991 – well below the WHO’s ‘healthy’ minimum of 952 – had fallen to a disturbing 846 by the time of the 2001 census. What’s worse, a CSR survey focused on the western part of the city has found that areas like Narela, Punjabi Bagh and Najafgarh have alarmingly low sex ratios of 828, 842 and 841 respectively. Researchers fear that the trend observed in the western parts of the city might be more widespread, and it could severely impact the city’s overall sex ratio in the next census, due in 2011.
REGULATE SALE OF ULTRASOUND MACHINES: CSR
Regulate the sale of ultrasound machines: that’s the new war cry of activists against the rampant female foeticide and falling sex ratio in the city. Ranjana Kumari, Director Centre for Social Research (CSR), has even appealed to the Health Minister to place checks on the sale of ultrasound machines that are widely used for pre-natal…
Regulate the sale of ultrasound machines: that’s the new war cry of activists against the rampant female foeticide and falling sex ratio in the city. Ranjana Kumari, Director Centre for Social Research (CSR), has even appealed to the Health Minister to place checks on the sale of ultrasound machines that are widely used for pre-natal sex determination, despite the ban on the practice. “I do not understand why the government can’t regulate the sale of ultrasound machines. Just about anyone can buy and install one, and carry out illegal sex determination,” says Kumari, who is also a member of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (regulation and prevention of misuse) Board.