In a packed cultural hall in Chandrapur, poor acoustics did not take away from a serious play on female foeticide. The voices of the actors went high and low as mikes were pushed hastily towards them. At the end of the play, there was a poignant appeal from an unborn girl who asked for a chance to live.
On Sunday despite the “pola” festival, hundreds of women gathered in the hall to watch the play and endorse the “Save the Girl Child” campaign to curb sex-selective abortions launched by Maharashtra Minister for Women and Child Development Varsha Gaikwad, who has been quietly travelling around the State since June 28 to create awareness on the issue. The poorer tribal areas of Vidarbha fare slightly better than the rest of the State in sex ratios, though latest figures from 2011 show a downward trend, leaving no room for complacency.
Asavari Devtale, member-in-charge, Women and Child Development in the Chandrapur zilla parishad says as a gynaecologist many couples come to her for sex selective abortions. Chandrapur has a sex ratio of 959 females per 1000 males, down from 1023/1000 in 1901. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is also campaigning against sex selective abortions. Dr. Devtale is a part of a district-wide campaign to educate people against killing a female child and last month, a hospital was sealed by the civil surgeon.
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There are about 10 to 12 radiologists in Chandrapur, who have all been enlisted in the campaign. However, the practice of using portable machines to detect the gender of the foetus has to be curbed, according to Shobatai Phadnavis, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC. The government has already announced the banning of some 1000 portable machines across the State. She said that the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex selection) (PCPNDT) Act had not been implemented properly in 16 districts and it was clear that economic progress was linked to the desire for a male child.
In her campaign, Ms. Gaikwad has enlisted the help of over 100,000 anganwadi workers and helpers to create awareness about sex selective abortions and alert the authorities to suspicious cases. The wages of anganwadi workers has been increased as an incentive. There was a suggestion to provide them with bicycles to make travelling easier. However, Leela Jambulkar, an anganwadi worker from Dandegaon near Gondia, says the increased wages are yet to take effect. “There is a practice of aborting female foetuses since most people are farmers here and they prefer sons who can inherit their land. The sonography centres also add to the problem by revealing the sex of the foetus,” she says.
But she is optimistic that with right interventions, the practice can be curbed. Anganwadi workers submitted a set of demands to the Minister, which included a bonus of Rs. 2000 before Diwali, pension, two uniforms in a year, and prompt salary payment by the fifth of every month. The Maharashtra Rajya Anganwadi Karmachari Union also said they preferred to provide cooked meals instead of take-home rations. It will take more than an appeal to rope in this large group of workers who for years have been underpaid and overworked.
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At the meeting in Gondia, the government publicly felicitated Pushpkala Wasnik and two other women who had two daughters each and opted for the sterilization programme. Here, the save the girl child campaign has not come a moment too soon. The district has a 13 per cent tribal population and 23 sonography centres, of which four are run by the government. With a sex ratio of 996 females per 1000 males, the district has the best ratio in Vidarbha and among the highest in the State. However, the worrying factor is the child sex ratio between 0 to six years, which was 944 females per 1000 males in 2011. In 1991, Gondia had a child sex ratio of 978/1000 which dropped to 958 in 2001, showing a steady decline.
This has motivated the district administration to form several committees to ensure a tighter vigil on sonography centres and by July end action was taken on two of them. In the tribal dominated neighbouring district of Gadchiroli, local officials say that practice of aborting female foetuses is not so prevalent and there are 15 sonography centres in the district. However, early marriage and lack of use of contraception is affecting the health of the women. The sex ratio in Gadchiroli has come down from 1023 females per 1000 males in 1901 to 975/1000 in 2011.
There is an overall downward trend even in the tribal areas of Vidarbha region which needs to be addressed immediately. Ms. Gaikwad says there is no reason why parents should want to know the sex of the child before it is born. The entire family needs to be involved in the campaign to save the girl child, she points out.