Worried over the increasing cases of female foeticide, the National Advisory Council (NAC) has suggested the government come up with a national policy on the declining child sex ratio. The policy will help tackle the menace of sex selective abortions.
The NAC submitted its recommendations on the policy to the Centre last week. In their recommendations, members Farah Naqvi and A K Shiva Kumar, say curbing social evils against women should be the primary concern if girl child is to be saved.
“The complex problem of sex selection needs to be handled both at the demand and the supply side,” said Naqvi while speaking at a workshop on sex selection organised by Delhi-based non-profit, Centre for Advocacy and Research on May 28. “The policy framework will provide a common understanding of the issue,” she added.
To check the practice of sex selection, the state and the Union governments are currently running several schemes like Beti Bachao Aandolan, conditional cash transfer schemes on a girl being born, along with the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. The Act makes disclosing the sex of the foetus and aborting it after sex determination, a criminal offence. But these measures have made an insignificant impact to save girls.
