. . . . Female foeticide is on the rise as rogue clinics thrive

[ensho]

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main46.asp?filename=Ne140810Progressive.asp


Progressive Kolkata has a dark secret. Female foeticide is on the rise as rogue clinics thrive


KOLKATA, KNOWN to be a bastion of progressive forces, hides in its womb a startling fact: one out of every six pregnancies end in sex selective malpractice — the official term for female foeticide. Evidence emerged when the Department of Health and the State Women’s Commission conducted a survey on pregnant women. Tallying the F-forms (issued by the government to gather details of pregnant women coming for tests) with the present status of would-be mothers, they were shocked to find that in nearly 16 percent cases, the target child was missing — circumstantial evidence that female foetuses are being aborted.

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Records from as many as 25 out of 141 wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation show a reduction of more than 10 percent in the sex ratio between the 1991 and 2001 census.

State Women’s Commission chairperson Malini Bhattacharya believes that the “conservative and regressive section of the affluent, educated society” is responsible. “Mediocre gynaecologists have grabbed this opportunity as a money spinner. The government must make its vigilance mechanism more effective,” adds the former MP.

-snip-

Contrary to popular perception, it’s not poverty and lack of education which lead to this kind of selective abortion. A third of the families engaged in this malpractice are affluent, about 22 percent belong to the middle class.

“Sex determination is rare among slum dwellers,” says Arpita Guha Thakurta, who led the survey with five volunteers. Unborn children go missing here because of the mother’s malnutrition and anaemia. Neepa, a volunteer, was locked up by a family when she asked ‘disturbing’ questions. The city police commissioner had to intervene to set her free.

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the war against females still wages in India

shame on them

[Edweird]

1. So India is going to become a sausage party. Somebody isn't thinking this completely through.

[kestrel91316]

5. Well, on the up side, it would tend to lower the overall birth rate in due time........

No women to be having babies.......on the down side, governments tend to have wars to decrease the surplus male population........

[secondwind]

2. I saw a documentary on this 2-3 years ago. Lower caste women, in particular, have

too many children, and very little rights. Husband/mother-in-law rule the roost. If another girl is born, neither will come to the clinic to see the new baby.

there are sonogram clinics, almost 1 to every 3-5 blocks in certain areas in India.

[Dulcinea]

3. Do they still have dowries in India?

If so, that probably has a lot to do with it. It's sickening and barbarous, no matter what.

[whathehell]

4. One obvious result of the wholesale devaluation of the human female.. n/t

[femrap]

6. In time, males will have

fewer women to select from....so possibly. Low supply, high demand.....higher prices. For all I care, those dudes can jack off.

This pathetic patriarchal world needs a good kick in the ass by Mother Nature. No one has more power than she.

[whathehell]

7. I know what you're saying and I think India is one of those places

experiencing a "shortage" of females....Market analogies are kind of horrible, though, don't you think?

[femrap]

8. I really wasn't thinking

in terms of the 'market.' Just the fact that patriarchy is aborting females leading to a much smaller supply. Women are hated in this world....that's what is HORRIBLE. They're raped, sold into slavery, given no value for all the unpaid work they do in this world and suffer more than soldiers when it comes to war.

Gee, if there are fewer women, the dudes will have to carry water, mind the crops, and cook meals...maybe they won't have time for war!

[slackmaster]

9. My brain has a divide by zero error on that one

I don't understand a culture that would cause people to make that kind of choice.