Examining Social Work Role in Pndt Act

TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
TULJAPUR


Amit Kumar
                                           
INTRODUCTION:
Declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) is cause of concern in the development process of India. The decline in CSR is not a new phenomena, it has relevance from the past when the Indian society was governed under Patriarchal norms. Son preferences had become a remarkable feature and in verse to have a son many female feticides were done and as a result the country is going through the process of missing women. Females have always been marginalized by main stream society through various methods e.g. sati system, absence of property rights, sex control in the name of honor etc. The hegemony of Son preference has led wide misuse of modern medical technology. These technologies are especially used to determine the sex of the fetus. The widespread use of New Reproductive technologies (NRT). NRTs are based on the principle of selection of desirable and rejection of unwanted. As a result in the below mentioned chat the CSR of India is declining drastically. India had deficit of 60 lakh girls in the age group of 0-6 years. The overall steep and consistent decline in the ratio mandates serious review in the face of surveys which ranks as the fourth most dangerous country for women, primarily due to high female foeticide and infanticide rates.The abuse of NRTs has become a generalized phenomenon encompassing all communities irrespective of caste, class, religion, education and ethnic back ground.
  To address such alarming situation Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act was enacted, to stop the abuse of advanced scientific techniques for selective elimination of female foetuses through sex -determination; the government of India passed the PNDT Act in 1994.
YEAR | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 |
CSR | 983 | 976(-7) | 964(-12) | 962(-2) | 945(-17) | 927(-18) | 914(-13) |
Source: Census of India, 1961, 1971, 1981,...