DON’T KILL ME

In this era when we are talking about ‘Women Empowerment’, women being at the forefront walking along with men contributing
in the progress of the country, many times even ahead of men, we still find many cases of female infanticide in the country. Still, there are parents who don’t want a girl child. Although, there has been a decline in the infanticide cases, but still it is quite evident. Female infanticide as we know is the intentional killing of baby girls due to the preference for male babies and from the low value associated with the birth of females. It is hard for us to believe this as we are from the Urban India, but there are female infanticide cases in the urban world as well. The advent of technology and misuse of pre-natal sex detection and also attitude of the unscrupulous
medical practitioners, who are facilitating the female foeticide
through induced abortions. There are strict laws and penal actions against violators, but the laws have not worked. Over 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in India in the past two decades. It is pertinent to note that the fall in the juvenile sex ratio is much higher in the economically developed States in India. There is steep fall in sex ratio in States like, Punjab, Haryana,
Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with the Union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh. In Punjab there are only 874 females per 1,000 males. The situation in Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra
is also similar - the females are 861, 921 and 922 respectively
per 1,000 males. Kerala is the only State where females are 1,058 per 1,000 males. India cannot afford to wait till the next census in 2011 to determine whether the growing practice of female foeticide and the girl child mortality rate had gone up. In India the reason behind rise of female foeticide is because of the strong son preference in society, the small family norm practices
like tradition of giving dowry, laws that govern property inheritance and the cultural perception about the familial name through the male line. The mortality of girl child is also high because
of parental discrimination against their daughters in terms of health care and nutrition. We may think what can we do in this regard, how can we change the parents perception. But, I would like to state over here that we are the future of India, we have the aid of media, and we are the future journalists, future ad-makers. We should use our resources and create awareness among the masses against this menace. In whatever way, we should contribute
to eradicate female infanticide from the country. An on-line survey
showed that 16% of the people
still feel that infanticide should be legalized in India which is appalling.
22% feel that society lacks knowledge about female infanticide.
When asked who is supposed to be blamed for it, 30% said it’s the families, 60% said it’s because of carelessness and 10% answered that it’s due to other reasons like molestation etc. 92% feel that the Government is not doing anything about it. When asked to give suggestions, people said that it is advisable to keep helplines. It also important to educate the masses and inculcate it at the school level.Distribution of leaflets can also spread awareness. It is pivotal on the part of the Government to keep a tab on the hospitals regularly
to avoid such situations.