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International
Women's Day - March 8, 2004
New Enemy Threatens
Baby Girls
Even before
they are born, baby girls in Gajapati district of Orissa are now
threatened or done away with by a new enemy. In the southern part of the
state, bordering Andhra Pradesh, where basic health services are
inaccessible, the pre-natal sex determination test is now on offer at the
doorstep of villagers. An ultrasound scanning apparatus is mounted onto a
Maruti van or a Tata Sumo, and there is an attendant doctor. The vehicles
move from village to village on predetermined days, usually Thursdays and
Saturdays.
Often, the mobile pre-natal diagnostic 'centre' is parked in front of the
local doctors' home, and there is a queue of couples waiting anxiously to
learn about the sex of their unborn children, so they can decide their
fate. This novel 'service' is the idea of 'enterprising' doctors from
Andhra Pradesh. Through an investment of Rs 700,000 (1US$=Rs 46) - on the
ultrasound scan machine and the vehicle hire charges - such doctors have
set their sights on quick money after competition got too hot in their
home state.
Dwijendranath Padhi, a local journalist, says these cross border forays
are have been going on over the past two years. The most favored operation
areas are within a 25-km radius of Khallikote, the district headquarters
situated almost at the border. The idea is simple: under threat, the
mobile units can easily slip back to base, beyond the Orissa government's
jurisdiction, and evade being brought to book.
Another reason for zeroing in on Gajapati is that competition here is
non-existent. There are approximately 50 medical clinics in Gajapati
district; none has an ultrasound scanning facility. Some local doctors and
some who are posturing as "trained pathologists", are also benefiting.
While each "patient" forks out Rs 400 to 500 per scan, no receipt or
written report is produced. The sex of the fetus is revealed orally to the
simple and illiterate folk who do not insist on anything more. According
to a local estimate, the mobile unit conducts about 20 fetal scans per day
(twice a week).
Gajapati's civil society claims that the authorities are fully aware of
what is going on. But the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of
Gajapati Dr K K Das, who is the monitoring authority and part of the State
Medical
Council, claims ignorance.
Under the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition Of
Sex Selection) Act which came into force on February 14, 2003, the CDMO
can initiate legal proceedings against medical practitioners involved in
sex selection tests. This can result in a suspension of registration and
on conviction, the name of the practitioner can be struck off the register
of the Council.
But, do mobile prenatal sex selection facilities come under the purview of
the Act? "Unfortunately, no," says Dr B K Dash, Director of the Department
of Family Welfare, Government of Orissa. "There are 269 registered clinics
with scan machines in the state; we are legally proceeding against just
one which had no license."
"(We could) just seize the machine and the vehicle," says Dr Satish
Agnihotri, Secretary of the Department of Women and Child Development,
promising to look into the matter.
Monitoring, legal proceedings and convictions are easier said than done in
Orissa. A particular CDMO requesting anonymity, revealed that of the ten
clinics he rapped recently for conducting sex selection tests, seven are
owned by government doctors. "It is very difficult to proceed against
one's own colleagues," he said. "As this is the situation in every
district, I have suggested that the District Collector be made the
monitoring
authority, or at the least, be the one to take deterrent action against
these doctors," he added.
The fact is that many of these doctors have political godfathers; so
deterrent action, even if it is initiated, is not seen through to its
logical conclusion. Most medical professionals agree on this.
Gajapati's "Operation Mobile Girl Killer" has another worrying social
angle: It is targeting the tribal population in Gumma, Kashinagar and
Rayagada blocks. The district has a tribal population of 47.86 per cent
according to the 1991 census. It has a total literacy rate of 41.73 per
cent, ranking 20th among the 30 districts of the state, with female
literacy at 28.91 per cent (2001 census).
However, the district ranks number one (in the state) in terms of sex
ratio - 1031 females per 1000 males, against the state average of 972
(2001). What is alarming is that within the 0-6 age group (in 2001), the
sex ratio
in Gajapati is already slipping into the negative - there are 44,021 girls
to 45,731 boys.
Traditionally, among the tribals in Orissa, the status of women is high.
Women form the backbone of the community's economy, shoulder the major
burden in agricultural activities, collect forest products, and sell them
in local markets. In most tribal communities, men are given to drinking
the local brew and are less productive than the women. For this reason,
among most tribal communities including those in Gajapati, bride price
(instead of the practice of dowry) has been the norm. The groom's side
offered heads of cattle, even commercial trees like saal and mohua, or
footed the expense of the marriage feast. Over the past several years
however, the cancer of dowry has been making in-roads into these gender
friendly communities, and at a double pace.
The inroads made by the dowry scourge and the impact of family planning
schemes that lead to a skewed preference - fewer children inevitably
translate into a preference for boys - have certainly worked against the
girl child. But today, these are not the only triggers for tribal families
to reject baby girls. "The reservation for scheduled tribes in government
jobs has now thrown up a negative," reveals Navin Patnaik, a Progressive
Statistics assistant with the government in Rayagada district.
According to Patnaik, hundreds of tribal men have got employment as
teachers and as siksha sahayaks (teacher helpers) under the Education
Guarantee Scheme (EGS) introduced in Orissa in 2001-2002. EGS seeks to
ensure primary education for children (in habitations where there are no
such facilities within one km), in a period of 100 days. Patnaik says the
two jobs fetch a salary of Rs 1500 and Rs 1000 respectively.
Under-qualified tribal men have been appointed because of the lack of
availability of people with prescribed degrees. "Since two or three years,
these people have started feeling that it's better to have a son and
educate him so that he can get a government job. Agricultural income is
already in peril, with growing land alienation among the tribal
population," says Patnaik.
Merely ascertaining the presence of a female fetus is obviously not where
the matter ends. The job of "eliminating" her remains. Although tribal
women now opt for the most modern technology to know what their wombs
hold, they still use the most primitive methods to "eliminate" the
unwanted. Traditional witch doctors use sticks, herbs, diets, and a host
of age-old 'tried and tested' methods of abortion. There is no mobile
medical unit
with a doctor in attendance for this, though.
– Manipadma Jena
March 8, 2004
International Women's Day -
March 8, 2004
Articles
Females: Superior by Choice, Design and Default
by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Getting Behind Abuse by Linda Light
It's All About Women by Elayne Clift
New Enemy Threatens Baby Girls by Manipadma
Jena
No Turning Back by Kalyani Menon-Sen
Single Moms by Choice by V. Radhika
Towards Freedom From Fear by Malvika Kaul
Poetry
Beacon of Hope by Neria
Harish Hebbar, MD
Mothers Never Die by Michael Levy
Woman by Pavalamani Pragasam
Women Empowerment: Today's Vision for
Tomorrow's Mission by Hillol Ray
International Women's
Day - March 2001
Ah! Women by Roberta Lee Wilcox
Ahilya - A poem by Manisha Bansal
And the International Women's Day was Born by Meera
Chowdhry
Being A Woman by Manisha Kulshreshtha
How to be a Woman, though a Human by Sangeeta Goel
March 8th - International Women's Day by Pavalamani
Pragasam
Most Beautiful Things
about Women by Smitha V
Mother Teresa: Woman of
the Century by Bijal Dwivedi
Musings of a Lady - A poem by Maria Reed-Shore
Nari 2001 by Lavanya Shah
Nevertheless - A poem by Manisha Bansal
Thoughts on Women's Day by Gargi Chaudhuri
What you can Never
Understand about Women by Smitha V
Women: Symbols of Sacrifice or Sacrificial Lambs? by
Meenakshi Madhur
By arrangement with
Womens Feature Service
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