Our GIRLS- Dipping and Bothered
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The chilling statistics are a rude wake up call for policy makers, activists and general public. The child sex ratio has been falling since 1961, but over the past ten years, ever since the previous census showed that the figures dropped from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001, there have been renewed efforts to give more teeth to te law against sex determination and awareness regarding the same.
Soon after the worrying numbers came out, our senior government officials and bureaucrats said the most expected line,'Our policies are just not effective enough'. Huh! what? Do they expect us to thank them for this 'golden' information!? Are we to believe that India's rusty steel structure of bureaucrats set-up had absolutely no idea what is happening right under their nose?
We do remember seeing a couple of advertisements released by publicity department of government with thumbnail photos of some ministers but probably thats about it. Still, we can't fully blame the 'babus' for not changing the mindsets. Its always been a 'cultural' and 'traditional' thing for the people.
Along with the dip in numbers, it is also the geographical spread of infanticide and foeticide that is of worrying nature. In 2001 the worst hit states were Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. While the first two have shown marginal improvement but still they are the big offenders in terms of sex-ratio.
Delhi being the capital of India as well as the most developed region is still showing dipped sex ratio, which goes on to prove that its not only the poor urban villages that are killing their daughters but its the so called urban population which are involved in such crimes too. Even after widely campaigned schemes like 'LAADLI' the sex ratio fell to 866 in 2011 as compared to 868 in 2001 in Delhi. Are we moving backwards???
It is true that the reason for killing the girl child are cultural, economical and the well oiled criminal system that prevails. For the rich, there is also the option of flying abroad for a quick detection and termination of female fetus. Somehow, the mindsets are not changing, no matter whether Saina Nehwal becomes world champion or not, no matter whether Sunita Williams travels space or not!
But we have to fight this war with all the forces available at our disposal. There has to be a greater political will in reversing this trend.
To see the results of Census 2011,click here ...
Do comment whats your take on this...
