Two-child family not to blame for sex-ratio fall

As the world population growth is hurtling towards 10 billion mark and India towards 1.4 billion, population issues continue to be forgotten by political parties in the hurly burly of power chase and elections over the last decade and more. The two-child family norm which could help stabilize India’s population by 2060 continues to be a fitful idea than a realistic target. What is worse is that it is being blamed for skewing the male-female sex ratio in places where it is being implemented as an eligibility condition for election to public offices. A recent report ( Hindu, September 14) based on research by a couple of foreign based ‘economists’ suggests that the two-child rule as an eligibility condition for candidates in panchayat (village) elections in some of the states is skewing sex ratio. The research, limited to only 11 out of India’s 33 states and based on unquantified sample surveys, sends a wrong signal in tackling India’s sex-ratio in population issues. The so-called rule is more often flouted than obeyed even in these few states. The country’s sex-ratio is skewed not so much by the two-child ‘norm’ as by the massively practised female infanticide. With the availability of modern technology and ultrasound techniques, infanticide is turning into female foeticide in large parts of the country. “The implementation of the 1994 pre-conception and pre-natal diagnistic techniques (PCPNDT) Act continues to be poor, and the nexus of greed forged by clinics, doctors and the political class is proving difficult to break,” says social affairs writer and journalist Usha Rai. In a syndicated article (Infochange) appearing in a magazine under the heading ‘Death before Birth,’ she points out that even after 20 years of the pre-conception and pre-natal Act, the child sex ratio continues to be on the downward spiral. The 2001 Census revealed that there were 927 girls to 1,000 boys. Ten years later in 2011 it fell another eight points to 919, says Rai’s analysis based on the findings of 200 NGOs across 23 states of the country in 2012-2013. In a country where patriarchy rules the waves, sex-selection is rapidly becoming easier with the advances in technology. Mobile ultrasound machines are zig-zagging their way into rural heartlands and tribal India and medical advances have made it easier to determine the sex of the foetus through blood and urine tests. The machines are also getting smaller and easier to hide, further skewing the sex-ratio. And all this is on top of the old established crude methods of choking the new-born girl child with chilli powder or putting her head in the narrow neck of an earthen pot and shaking it wildly till the little life is extinguished. Snuffing out the girl child’s life remains one of the main causes of India’s skewed sex-ratio. Just before going to press, a shocking example of another variety of killing little girls emerged from Bharatpur district in Rajasthan where a two-and-a half year old ailing girl, was buried alive and her grave turned into a samadhi or a place of worship with claims by parents that she was a goddess ! Local villagers, instead of raising alarm, joined in by offering flowers and supporting the parents who committed the crime out of belief or inability or unwillingness to afford medical treatment. Burying her alive was the easy way out. Describing the incident as outrageous , child rights lawyer Ravi Kant said the circumstances prima facie indicate the involvement of the victim’s parents. Since her grave was turned into a samadhi the role of neighbours and other villagers could not be ignored. A former member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Vinod Tickoo, said the incident brought to light the prevalence of barbaric practices like “female genocide”. Calling for stringent punishment for such acts, he said : “Female foeticide and genocide is still prevalent in Rajasthan and it is time to weed out these inhuman practices.” CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat added her voice by saying that the central government should have promptly taken action and instituted an inquiry. “Glorification of murder is unacceptable and should not be allowed under any circumstances.” The way to tackle the larger issue of falling male-female sex-issue and continuing population explosion is not by relaxing the two-child norm for panchayat election candidates and thus exacerbate the population growth but through spreading welfare schemes like the ‘Ladli’ plan in some states which offer a rupee cash gift at birth, besides Rs one lakh insurance plus free education up to secondary school level or even university stage. The worsening imbalance in sex-ratio needs both positive welfare measures as well as strong government measures to curb and punish medical practitioners flouting the law. The importance of panchayat election candidates as role models cannot be under-estimated in a country like India which has been caught in a population explosion for several decades in the past with no sign of escape in the near future. The two-child norm needs to be extended rather than reversed if the upcoming millions of youngsters are to be offered any hope of meaningful employment, hope, and a modicum of prosperity.