For the country which has a lopsided child sex ratio, majority of the States are just not doing enough to protect the girl child, or so it seems by the poor utilisation of Central funds in the last three years for creating awareness against foeticide and infanticide.
The latest Government data shows dismal spending by the States in the subsequent last three years since 2011-12. For instance, out of the total Rs 14.11 crore released by the Centre in 2011-12, the States’ expenditure under Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) was just Rs 5.97 crore, while in the following year the spending was Rs 10.79 crore against Rs 15.90 crore made available to them.
Despite the fact that the sex ratio declined disturbingly as per Census 2012, the spending by the States on implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, remained unimpressive as out of 16.26 crore released in 2013-14 just Rs 9.30 crore was used.
State wise, the poor expenditure of the available fund has been particularly by the male-obsessed northern States such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh which did not spend even half of the total fund available to them in 2013-14. In comparison, southern States like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh have done well besides West Bengal and Maharashtra.
Though here has been a significant rise in the number of cases registered under the PC and PNDT Act, which criminalises sex determination, prescribing imprisonment up to seven years for those found guilty, officials say these could be just the tip of an iceberg as many go unreported.
According to the available figures, a total of 132 cases, 210 cases and 221 cases were reported under foeticide while a total of 63 cases, 81 cases and 82 cases were reported under infanticide during 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. State wise Madhya Pradesh tops the list of registered cases with 79 cases, followed by Rajasthan (34) and Haryana (21) in 2013.
The official said the financial support is being provided to the States and UTs for operalisation of PNDT cells, capacity building and strengthening of the structures for the implementation of the PC & PNDT Act under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).