He might appear to his detractors as a Don Quixote tilting at windmills what with his running feud with the director of AIIMS and eminent cardiologist Dr Venugopal, whom he has lately managed to oust with a legislation that set an age limit of 65 for the AIIMS director. But there can be no denying the fact that Anbumani Ramadoss, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, a qualified doctor himself, is not just a man in a hurry but one who takes his job very seriously.

Be it the unrelenting battle to clean the augean stables at AIIMS or the no holds barred war against the tobacco lobby, the minister continues to be full of beans. His recent announcement that the Centre is considering a proposal for stringent punishment for female foeticide, including a life-term for offenders, should warm the cockles of many a heart.

For long has this malaise gone unchecked. Most cases, like their poor unborn or just-born victims, are buried never to see the light of day. Even those who are caught red-handed, either manage to take advantage of the loopholes in the law and escape or draw very light sentences totally disproportionate to the gravity of the crime.
The minister has also revealed that more cases of female infanticide come from affluent states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi — which effectively nails the lie that female foeticide has its origins in poverty and is confined largely to the rural belt in the country, where these innocent lives are snuffed out because the poor parents could neither afford to bring them up nor get them married off when they reach the marriageable age.

That the crime is being committed by men and women with means, who could very well raise their female children, makes it even more dastardly and condemnable. But as the minister has rightly pointed out legislation and the consequent fear of punishment will not make much of a difference as far as female foeticide is concerned. Unless there is a change in the mindset of all those who involve themselves in committing the crime and those who aid and abet them, precious little can be achieved.

A recent UNICEF study has revealed that the sex ratio is declining in 80 per cent of the districts in the country. Though high number of early marriages and high infant and maternal mortality rates have been cited as the reason for this situation, the inference that there is an unusually high proportion of male births in the country virtually lets the cat out of the bag.

The study has cited strong son preference, low estimation of girls, increasing dowry demands, difficulty in bringing up a girl child and easy availability of ultrasound and abortion services at private clinics as palpable reasons for the declining sex ratio.

While the minister deserves to be commended for the bold steps that he is keen on initiating to bring these killers to book, there is a definite need to raise the level of civic consciousness and governments — both at the Centre and the states — while unearthing and dealing strictly with cases of female infanticide would also do well to announce more and more schemes for the welfare of the girl child. In a country like ours, where most laws are observed in breach, legislation alone can never be a solution or even a palliative.