'Silent Observer' to curb female foeticide in Maharashtra
POSTED July 14, 2010 - 13:59 | POSTED BY Silky Chandvani
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on July 14, 2010 - 16:13
The nation may have enacted laws banning sex determination tests but aborting female fetuses is still a common practice in India.
The implementation of the device 'Silent Observer' has been considered due to the steep fall in the sex ratio in states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, along with the union territories Delhi and Chandigarh.
Another reason the hi-tech watchdog to trace the malpractitioners has been proposed is that a five-year-awareness campaign seems to have had no impact on the malpractice.
'Silent Observer' to check infanticide
Since sex determination of a foetus is possible only with the help of sonography test, the device will be embedded in each machine and will keep a track of about every sonography that has occurred on the machine.
Right now, there are 7,373 registered sonography centres in the state and launching the device can create a big difference.
In 2009, the state’s health department had launched a pilot project in Kohlapur by installing the device at several sonography centres. Interestingly, several illegal abortions were detected successfully, thereby maintaining the accuracy of the device.
Suresh Shetty, State Health Minister, informed the legislative council, “In the last Assembly session we had discussed the Kolhapur model and wanted to replicate the formula all over the state.”
Female feticide: state government plays dumb
The state’s embarrassing sex ratio--927 females per 1,000 male--shows no signs of improving with sex-selective abortions now becoming rampant in rural parts of Maharashtra.
Shockingly, in a 2007 incident, Orissa police had recovered as many as 30 polythene bags stuffed with female foetuses and decaying organs of new-born babies from a dry well near a private clinic in Nayagarh, close to Bhubaneswar.
In a tug of war, Congress MLC Jayprakash Chhajed on Tuesday raised the issue of increasing cases of female infanticide and asked if the state is taking some measures to curb the problem.
Defending himself, Minister of State for Health, Fauzia Khan said, “Over the last few years the State Health Department has charged 125 sonography centres with illegal sex determination, slapping a fine of Rs 15,000 on each.”
“One of the accused has also been imprisoned. In Pune 15 more have been convicted,” the minister further added.
Recent statistics reveal that as many as 10 million girls in India were killed by their parents either before or immediately after birth over the past 20 years.
