Female foeticide is the practice of selecting the sex of a fetus, leading to the termination of female pregnancies, a trend that has resulted in a significant gender imbalance in India. Despite legislative measures like the PCPNDT Act and numerous government schemes aimed at saving girl children, the practice persists due to deep-rooted societal preferences for male offspring. Comprehensive actions including education, community involvement, and support for women's rights are necessary to combat this societal issue.

1. FEMALE FETICIDE ACT
RADHA

2. MEANING
• Female foeticide is a practice that involves the
detection of the sex of the unborn baby in the
womb of the mother and the decision to abort it,
if the sex is detected as a girl.
• Female foeticide is the practice of sex selective
abortions has taken over infanticide, the
practice of killing children at birth.

3. INDIAN SCENARIO
• Female foeticide has been a common practice in our
country since centuries.
• Indian Census has always shown a gender imbalance.
Sex selective abortion is a fairly recent phenomenon,
but its roots can be traced back to the age old practice
of female infanticide.
• At that time, it was noted that there was a significant
abnormal sex ratio of 940 women to 1000 men.

4. FEMALE FETICIDE IN INDIA
• The child sex ratio has dropped from 945
females per 1000 males in 1991 to 927
females per 1000 males in 2001.
• Estimated that 50 million girls and women are
‘missing’ from India’s population because of
termination of the female foetus.
• Female foeticide in India increased by 49.2%

6. SIGNIFICANT FACTORS CAUSING FEMALE
FETICIDE
• The preference for boy in patriarchal society is
so strong that many women choose to abort
rather than give birth to a girl.
• Modern technology has the way to kill
unwanted baby girls who are still in the womb.

7. • There is also a religious faith that only male
children can perform the last rituals for their
parents.
• The women are forced to abort their female
foetus owing to family pressure and also the
practice of dowry is responsible for this.
• Physical insecurity of women.
• Lack of education and awareness.

8. FORMS OF FETICIDE AND INFANTICIDE
1.Aborting the fetus.
2.Earlier the children were
poisoned (or) simply
chocked.
3.Later the infants were
wrapped in wet towel,
resulting to die of
pneumonia
4.The villagers are now
starving the children to
death.
5.And also just born baby is
fed with children soup and it
dies writhing in pain.
6.Infant girls are disposed
often in garbage dump.

9. LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
 The Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex
Pre Selection (FASDSP), a broad forum of
feminist and human rights groups was formed
in 1984, and it has been lobbying for legislation
to ban the practice.
 In 1988, the state of Maharashtra passed an
Act banning pre natal diagnostic practices.

10. On September 20, 1994 the Parliament had
enacted the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques
(Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, which
came into force from January 1996. Later, the Act
was amended with effect from February 14 2003
and was renamed as Pre-Conception and Pre-
Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex
Selection) Act,1994 (PCPNDT Act).

11. THE MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY
ACT was enacted by the Indian Parliament in
the year 1971 and came into force in 1972 . As
per India’s abortion laws only qualified
doctors, stipulated conditions, can perform
abortion on a woman in an approved clinic or
hospital.

12. THE DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT, 1961 Prohibits
the request, payment or acceptance of a
dowry, demanded or given as a precondition
for a marriage. Asking or giving of dowry can
be punished by an imprisonment of up to six
months, or a fine of up to Rs. 5000.

13. Indian government has modified property
inheritance laws and permitted daughters to
claim equal rights to their parental property.

14. Ground Reality
The ban on the government hospitals and
clinics, at the Centre and in the states, making
use of pre-natal sex determination for the
purpose of abortion - a penal offence – led to
the commercialization of the technology; private
clinics providing sex determination tests through
amniocentesis multiplied rapidly and widely.

15. ACTIONS TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT
 The administration, in addition to providing help to
families which save the girl children has activated
the Village Health Nurses (VHNs) to keep an eye on
pregnant Women.
 The VHNs has also been asked to concentrate on
reducing the infant mortality rate (IMR).

16.  A helpline has been installed at the camp office of the collector
to obtain any information that could help to save the girl
children.
 The Cradle Baby Scheme in Tamil Nadu, to curb the menace of
female infanticide prevalent in certain parts of Tamil Nadu and
to save the girl babies, “Cradle Baby Scheme” was first started
by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the year 1992 in Salem
district.

17.  On March 8, 2006 the Governor of New Delhi launched a
campaign against selective abortions. In Delhi along the situation
is “becoming alarming”: only 814 girls are born for every 1000
boys in the capital.
 U.P. government’s ‘Mukhbir Yojana’, launched in 2017. Under
this scheme the government provides an incentive of up to Rs 2
lakhs to any person who would alert the state authorities
regarding the involvement of any doctor or a medical staff in sex
determination of the foetus and/or female foeticide.

18. Government Schemes
Both the Centre and State governments have initiated a
range of girl child welfare schemes with an object of changing the
social attitude towards the girls and for their upliftment.
Following are a few such schemes:-
 Beti Bachao Beti Padhao- It is a central government
scheme to save the girl child from sex- selective abortions and
advance the education of girl children all over the country.
Initially, the districts having low-sex ratio were targeted.

19.  Balika Samriddhi Yojana- It is a scholarship
scheme designed to provide financial aid to
young girls and their mothers below the
poverty line. The key objective of the scheme
is to improve their status in society and
improve the enrolment as well as retention of
girls in schools.

20.  CBSE Udaan Scheme- It is administered by the
Central Board of Secondary Education through the
Ministry of Human Resource Development,
Government of India. This scheme focuses mainly on
increasing the enrolment of girls in engineering and
other technical colleges throughout the country.

21.  Ladli Scheme Of Haryana- It is a cash incentive scheme
initiated by the Haryana Government that provides a pay-out
of Rs. 5000 annually for a period of 5 years to families with a
second girl child born on or after 20th August 2015. The
money is deposited in a Kisan Vikas Patra. These deposits
along with interest are to be released once the concerned girl
child becomes a major.

22. Karnataka Bhagyashree Scheme- It is a Karnataka
government scheme designed to promote the birth of
girl child among families below the poverty line.
Health insurance cover up to a maximum of Rs.
25,000, is provided to the girl child, annually.

23.  Sivagami Ammaiyar Memorial girl child protection scheme The
scheme is being implemented to Promote family planning , eradicate female
infanticide, promote the welfare of girl children in poor families and to raise
the status of girl children.
Scheme I for one Girl Child - Rs.22,200/- Fixed Deposit Receipt in the name
of girl child for the family which has only one girl child.
Scheme-II for each girl child where the family has two girl children only -
Fixed Deposit Receipt for Rs.15,200/- for each girl child where the family
has two girl children only.

24. Recommendations
 However NGOs feel that in addition to providing the services
of VHNs, the government should encourage local ‘dhais’
responsible for child birth in remote villages, by providing
them an honorarium and sophisticated training to conduct
delivery.
 Though the issue is a social one, it needs to be tackled
accordingly the government should send a stern warning that
those concerning female infanticide will not go unpunished.

25.  A transformation of our gender society is necessary for the
crimination of female foeticide.
 Volunteers have to be actively mobilized to monitor the
registration and the functioning of the sex determination
clinics in the districts.
 Effective alliances with ethical doctors have to be made from
the local level.

26.  Lobbying with political parties to put this issue on their
agenda is imperative.
 A lesson on gender equity should be included in school
curriculum.
 Organization and individuals with different priorities and
ideological beliefs have to rally together to battle the
powerful patriarchal forces operating within the
institutions of the family government and civil society.

27. The campaigns to protect women and children from
being kidnapped or sold should be effectively
strengthened.
There is a need for scientific research to investigate
factors responsible for female foeticide.
There is urgent need to initiate a vibrant, effective
awareness campaign at various levels.
This issue should also be discussed in the monthly
meeting of Anganwadi.

28.  Family planning programme should focus on effective public
education, good counselling and service delivery, and the fully
voluntary participation of the community and individuals to
increase contraceptive prevalence, reduce unplanned
pregnancies and minimize the need for an induced abortion.
 The media is an important agent of social changes. Media can
create positive role models, and set examples on preventing his
issue.