Rape and harassment at work place is also one of the
causes that support female foeticide. Sometimes women
feel so helpless that they do not want give birth to any
female child, thinking about the harassments they face in
the society.
taken by the government. Article 15 of the Indian Constitution says that the state shall not discriminate against any
citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, gender,
place of birth or any of them; this should be followed in
letter and spirit.
Religious norms and social traditions, usually prejudices,
sanctioned many social evils against women. The very
birth of a girl child is still regarded as a bad omen in many
parts of the country.
The government should organise education awareness
programmes so that India would move away from religious
prejudices, blind beliefs, etc and adopt a more scientific/
rational humanist approach. There should be stricter ban on
the misuse of medical technology for sex determination in
all government and private hospitals.
A century ago, 972 baby girls were born for every 1000
baby boys, but now the figure of girl infants are decreasing,
while the figure for male babies remains constant.
Governments at all levels are trying to develop policies and
programmes to deal with these problems. Gender equality
has intrinsic dimension of equitable and sustainable human
development. For uplifting the status of women in the society and for protecting her against the social evils, especially the female foeticide, government can take steps in
improving their education, health, economic role, presence
in the professions, management and decision-making
power.
Dowry system is another serious social problem leading to
suicide and bride burning. If boys and girls are equal before
the law, then why is the family of the bride asked to giving
dowry in terms of cash or kind? Although giving and accepting dowry has been made illegal in India for more than
40 years, the oppressive custom still persists. Official estimates show that every year almost 7000 women are killed
by their spouses and in-laws because of inadequate dowry
payments.
Ladli Yojna is a new scheme of the government for the girl
child launched in 2008 on the occasion of the birthday of
late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Its objective is to raise
the status of the girl child in the family and in the society
as well as to change the mindsets of the people towards
rearing of the girl child, giving them their birth rights as
provided in our Constitution.
The female foeticide has created an imbalance in the female to male ratio. With the prevalence of effect of female
sex, determination tests and female foeticide, the sex ratio
of female in the state has declined considerably. In order to
combat the menace of female foeticide, it needs to improve
the declining sex ratio of females and increase the number
of girls in the families. The crime of selling girls is increasing day by day. Poor families sell them for money. The
situation is becoming alarming in our country; the number
of girls are becoming very less for every thousand boys in
every year. If no immediate steps are taken, then the rate
of crime will increase. It is seen that the number of females
is less in Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and
Chandigarh and also in Delhi and in all the rich states of
India. Hence, poor condition and uneducation are not the
only causes of female foeticide.
Even government has accorded priority to women and
children in the development programmes. But various indicators reveal that the fruits of development have not flown
to women and children due to existing social impediments
in the development process which include certain practices, behavioural patterns and attitude towards issues
concerning child development, especially the girl child and
women. One of the other important reasons about the low
status of women in the society and low nutritional and
health status of children is attributed to lack of awareness
and knowledge. Thus, the role of publicity in the context of
girl child and women development is vital for furthering
advocacy, social mobilisation and community empowerment which must be area specific, need based and target
oriented with a focus on child survival, protection and development, areas of behavioral concern and empowerment
of women.
The alarming situation due to female foeticide and imbalance in the male-female ratio has posed a serious 6