India and The Plague of Female Feticide

Bangalore: As our Prime minister has remarked, female feticide is a ‘national shame’. It is still a shameful fact that female feticide does exist in our country. The education level has increased, our technologies have improved and female emancipation is going all around our country but still we are unable to eradicate this threat of female feticide. It is also promising that there is a deliberate effort from many of our states to control female feticide. Gujarat stands as a good example for taking initiatives for such efforts.

TV reality show Satymev Jayate hosted by super star Amir Khan has now brought the present public attention to the issue of female feticide. The Sunday episode of the programme discussed many critical issues around this threat. Many testimonial stories added life to the programme.

Female feticide is a major threat to our country because it has affected the entire social structure. Why are the girls children unwanted in the society? This issue points to many patriarchal attitudes and constructions of the society. Our society has still a long way to go to eradicate this social problem since it is a problem that comes from the mind sets of the people. The general notion of girl child being a burden has to be changed from the minds of people. But we can’t wait till the whole change occurs. The radical change comes from strong efforts. When awareness alone can’t stop the menace government should take some practical steps