Time to take pride in the girl child

Photographer Atul Kasbekar’s recent pictures on father and daughter celebrities like Anil and Sonam Kapoor, Sachin and Sara Tendulkar, Rishi and Riddhima Kapoor, Javed and Zoya Akhtar, is not for any charity show. Instead it supports the cause of encouraging families to take pride in their girl child.

Kasbekar, who is part of Project Nanhi Kali, managed by the K C Mahindra Education Trust and the Naandi Foundation conceived a campaign ‘Proud Fathers for Daughters’ that aims to improve the poor gender ratio in the country.

The campaign is just another initiative highlighting the skewed sex ratio in the country and the urgency to deal with it. Delhi is no different from other states.

No denying the fact that there has been a slight improvement in gender ratio as suggested by Primary Census Abstract 2011 (sex ratio in Delhi has gone up from 821 in 2001 to 868 in 2011), released last year, but there is still a long way to go in preventing sex determination, one of the prime reasons for disturbing the sex ratio.

“We cannot be happy about the latest numbers. Poor sex ratio is an indicator of the discrimination between a boy and girl at the time of birth,” says Rizwan Parwez, who works for Girls Count, a civil society initiative to address the issue of declining child sex ratio.

According to him the effective way to deal with the problem is to create social awareness as well to stop sex selection through effective implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act.

The implementation of the Act is not only limited to forming committees and doing frequent inspection, but an important part is the maintenance of documents by the ultrasound centres which they have to provide to the health department.

For this, ultrasound centres have to submit Form-F, where they have to provide every
detail related to ultrasound like the reason behind sonography or sampling of amniotic fluid during pregnancy, which are done to diagnose genetic abnormalities of the foetus.
 
Notably, ultrasound machines are sealed on the basis of these records. “Form-F has always been a reason of debate. Doctors and radiologists argue that the format is not clear and it should not be the only reason to take action against any centre,” says Parwez. “Though there has been a slight change in the form, as released in gazette this year, there has been a mixed response from the fraternity,” he added.

The general secretary, Indian Medical Council (IMA), Narendra Saini too supports Parwez’s view. “We have no objection to the revised Form-F except that our point has not been considered. I was in the committee that was discussing Form-F. We had requested for the grading of punishment for offences related to Form-F because the machines are sealed even for a few incomplete columns.”

“How long will you investigate the matter of a clinic which is closed down, is not clear in the Code of Conduct. And, if at a later stage the authorities do not find any evidence and the clinic is found to be innocent, then the government should compensate it against the loss of business for the period,” he adds. 

According to him, ultrasound centres are not the only reason behind poor sex ratio. “Many girls are thrown into garbage soon after birth and many die because parents don’t get them vaccinated.”

But a senior medical officers, who preferred anonymity said, “Most of the clinics have not yet taken revised Form-F into consideration. There are not enough evidences to support the ongoing practice of sex selection and flagrant violation of PCPNDT norms. Even there are loopholes in the Act itself which makes its implementation difficult.”