FEMALE INFANTICIDE IN INDIA
India is suffering for the menace of female infanticide .Female infanticide is the intentional killing of a baby girl due to preference for male babies and from the low value associated with the birth of females this practices arise in the area where cultural norms value male children over female children .
According to the recent report by the United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing in India's population as a result of systematic sex discrimination. Five millions of girls were eliminated between 1986 and 2001 because of foetal sex determination done by unethical medical professionals.Son preference has become daughter hatred in India in recent decades due to widespread legitimization of the form of violence against women, and also one more aspect cannot be ignored-DOWRY.
As the evil practices of the Dowry claims approximately 25,000 lives of women in India every year and is responsible of the practices such as Female infanticide .Demanding and receiving a huge dowry is considered a social status symbol in Indian Hindus culture Most demands are intended to be ''show off'' relatives and friends.In India where the largest number of poor live , most parents of young girls are unable to fulfill lavish dowry demands .Young brides consequently are subjected to torture and are killed by their husbands and in-laws in fake accidents.
However
this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the
discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves
must be challenged if this practice is to stop.
The
practice of female deselection in India could be attributed to socioeconomic
reasons. Studies in India have indicated three factors of female deselection in
India, which are economic utility, sociocultural utility, and religious
functions.
As John-Thor
Dahlburg points out, "in rural India, the centuries-old practice of female
infanticide can still be considered a wise course of action." (Dahlburg,
"Where killing baby girls 'is no big sin'," The Los Angeles Times
[in The Toronto Star, February 28, 1994.]) According to census
statistics, "From 972 females for every 1,000 males in 1901 ... the gender
imbalance has tilted to 929 females per 1,000 males. ... In the nearly 300 poor
hamlets of the Usilampatti area of Tamil Nadu [state], as many as 196 girls
died under suspicious circumstances [in 1993] ... Some were fed dry, unhulled
rice that punctured their windpipes, or were made to swallow poisonous powdered
fertilizer. Others were smothered with a wet towel, strangled or allowed to
starve to death."
A survey conducted by Thomson Reuter's Trust law women, a hub of legal information and legal support for woman's right had placed India in a Fourth most dangerous place for women in the world due to high number of female foeticide , infanticide and human trafficking.
Justice P Sathasivam said that the need of the hour is to
have good laws curbing female infanticide in the country. "Despite laws
female infanticide continues to create imbalance in society. The widening
gender gap is alarming for the social structure of our country,"
Chief
justice Arun Mishra expressed his shock over the cases involving highly
educated and rich class in female infanticide cases. Many of them argued that
though it's a social evil but strict laws can put an end to evil practices that
widen the gender gap.
In most of the countries in the world , there are approximately 105 female birth for every 100 males . In India there are less then 93 women for every 100 men in the population .
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