While all of the data on child sex ratio or sex ratio at birth came from, or had to be inferred from government hospitals, it was essential to rope in private hospitals and clinics that were currently not obliged to share any information with the public. Speakers at a State-level consultation on the Census 2011 Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) data in Tamil Nadu organised by Campaign Against Sex Selective Abortion (CASSA) said a substantial number of the deliveries and medical termination of pregnancies were occurring at private centres.
The private sector must be regulated, and mandated to provide sex ratio at birth figures on a regular basis. A bill to monitor private establishments had been suggested but is yet to be made law, Mina Swaminathan, senior member, CASSA, said.
Social activist and campaigner Sabu George questioned the veracity of government data on CSR. There were discrepancies between the provisional data of the Census 2011 and that being provided by the primary health centres in Tamil Nadu. He charged that possible manipulation of data was taking place. It was suggested that bringing accountability to the PHCs by publishing SRB data on a regular basis would likely lift the suspicion. There had been substantial improvement, however, in the districts of Theni, Salem and Dharmapuri,Ranjani K. Moorthy, social activist pointed out. M. Jeeva, core team member, CASSA, said there were about 20,000 missing girls in Tamil Nadu, as per the SRB for the period 2001-2008. CASSA would form a monitoring cell at the district and taluk level, he added. A public action campaign during November will be held by CASSA in Madurai, Salem, and Nagapattinam on sex selective abortions.
