Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ (BBBP) is facing a major challenge with surging trend of use of portable ultrasound machines for sex determination and online sale of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) kit.
The NDA-led Central Government is, however, yet to come up with a comprehensive policy to deal with these challenges.
Several cases of misuse of portable mini-ultrasound machines have been reported from Haryana and Punjab, which have been notorious for female foeticide.
Admitting that the portable mini-ultrasound machines and online sale of MTP kits are major challenges while dealing with the menace of female foeticide, Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi, while talking to The Pioneer said that the Government cannot do much to deal with these two issues, as of now… But we are trying to formulate a plan to tackle such issues to keep a check on female foeticide, she said.
The sex determination and female foeticide have been partly blamed for the low sex ratio in the two States, although sex selection is outlawed by the PCPNDT Act.
Stating that the gender imbalance was a major problem in Haryana, the Union Minister, earlier while addressing the regional editors’ conference said, “This even led to kidnappings of women for marriage. However, the latest data suggests that sex ratio has improved a lot now.”
Haryana, which had the worst sex ratio among states in the 2011 census, was chosen by Prime Minister to launch the nationwide ambitious ‘BBBP’ in 2015. Haryana had the lowest child sex ratio of 834 compared to the national average of 919 (according to census of India 2011).
A year later, the State had recorded sex ratio at 903 in December— the first time in a decade that it had crossed 900 in Haryana.
The Union Minister said that the preliminary reports for 100 districts indicate that for the time period between April-March 2014-15 & 2015-16, an increasing trend in sex ratio at birth (SRB) is visible in 58 percent of the BBBP districts.
The result in Kashmir is, however, not equivalent to other areas due to its instability and war-like situation, she said.
About the deep-rooted traditional preference to the male child in the society, the Union Minister said that the perception of the people towards girl child needs to be changed and it would certainly take time.
To sensitize young students on gender equality, she said that an initiative of gender champions has been introduced in the schools.
On human trafficking, which is an acute problem in the country, Maneka Gandhi said that the Ministry has drafted a comprehensive legislation “Trafficking of Persons (prevention, protection and rehabilitation) Bill, 2016” to cover all aspects of trafficking. The Government will soon bring this anti-trafficking legislation in the Parliament, said she.
She said that lakhs of children and women go missing or kidnapped every year. They are forced into slavery, prostitution etc. The draft bill proposes to tackle different aspects of trafficking by creating a strong legal, economic, and social environment by putting in place dedicated institutional mechanisms at district, state and central level, she added.
Highlighting the initiatives launched by her Ministry for women protection, Maneka Gandhi said that from January 1, 2017, all new feature phones will have the facility of panic button configured to the numeric key 5 or 9 and all smart phones will have the panic button configured to three times short pressing of the on-off button.
Also, from January 2018 onwards, all mobile phones will be required to have the facility of identifying the location through satellite based GPS, she said.
Apart from this, mahila police volunteers will be deputed in States and Union Territories to serve as a public-police interface in order to fight crimes against women. These volunteers would be given identity cards. The Chief Secretaries of States/Union Territories have been asked to adopt this initiative, she informed.
Regarding one-stop centres (OSCs) which are catering to the needs of women affected by violence, the Union Minister said that 150 new centres are proposed to be opened during current fiscal 2016-17. So far, 19 such centres are operational in the country and around 200 women turn up at these OSCs every day, said she.
Referring to the increasing number of crimes against women on account of information shared on the matrimonial websites, the Union Minister said that an advisory has been issued to the matrimonial websites to keep a check on profile of male members and ensure
that they share their Aadhaar card details.