India is among the 36 countries having a legislation banning sex determination. Israel is unique in allowing it in rare cases when a couple has four children of the same gender with mandatory permission from the Health ministry. The curiosity to plan the new arrival as well as the higher affinity to a girl child in the west makes it a 100 million dollar business in the United States that allows the embryo screening (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)) for prenatal sex selection. With the rise of fertility clinics assisting infertile couples with in vitro fertilisation (IVF), the issue of sex determination takes a back seat since the gender is already known in such cases. Moreover, sex selection crosses the thin line when a family has a history of sex linked diseases like haemophilia and Duchene Muscular dystrophy. If the mother carries the genes for such diseases, the baby boy has a 50 per cent chance to contract it. In such cases, sex determination becomes crucial.
Back home, if the idea was of sex determination is implemented, what would it be like? Union Minister Maneka Gandhi had suggested so in February 2016. The suggestion came in the wake of the fact that the child sex ratio (age group of 0 to 6 years) declined from 927 girls per 1000 boys in 2001 to 918 girls in 2011. The urban child sex ratio lags as compared to the rural ratio, however, the fall in the ratio has been greater in rural areas.
While the Indian Medical Association welcomed the suggestion activists and political groups, on the contrary, slammed it citing invasion of the privacy of pregnant mothers. Even after banning pre-natal sex determination in 1991, the child sex ratio tumbled to its worst ever levels since 1961. The dipping sex ratio means that the market of non-abiding doctors and quacks is thriving well under the covers. So, in a way, it would help to check this unscrupulous market.
One suggestion doing the rounds is real time recording of the data from the ultrasound machines connected online. It would require huge infrastructure. Moreover technology alone will not suffice. Five years ago, the Planning Commission proposed tracking the progress of mother’s pregnancy if it is a girl by the anganwadi workers, midwives and social health activists. It also suggested giving incentives to the workers, midwives and the family members for successful female births. However, even if a girl child is born, she is at a higher risk of mortality before attaining the age of 6 years. As soon as the parents realise that it is a girl child, their behaviour changes.
Such an initiative cannot be successful if the various stakeholders of Panchayati Raj, the State governments, and the public are not taken into confidence. The government must understand the deep-rooted social bias against the women in the Indian society. The overlapping ministries and the Indian Medical Association should work in tandem to make it a success, and, most importantly create awareness about gender diversity.