Lok Sabha Question No. 621 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-02-26
Subject: Sex Selective Abortions
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: PRALHAD VENKATESH JOSHI, C.R. CHAUDHARY, RADHESHYAM BISWAS

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 621 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH FEBRUARY, 2016

## SEX SELECTIVE ABORTI ONS

## 621. SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI: SHRI C.R. CHAUDHARY: SHRI RADHESHYAM BISWAS:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the dismal sex ratio in the country;
- (b) if so, the steps taken/being to improve the sex ratio including the registration of birth of girl child by parents;
- (c) whether the Government has initiated a mobile team under Pre - Conc ption and Pre - Natal DiagnosticTechniques  (PC&PNDT)  Act  to  prevent pre - natal  diagnostic,  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (d) whether the cases of female fo eticide leased  on  sex  determination  case  have  came to the notice of the Government; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)

- (a): As per the information received from Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) the sex ratio (females per 1000 males) of total population by residence has shown growth fro females per 1000 males in 2001 to 943 females per 1000 males in 2011.
- (b): The Civil Registration System is being implemente d by th  RGI under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. As per information received from RGI, the number of regist female births has increased to 10636276 in 2013 from 9463528 in 2012 as compared to ma births of 11844107 in 2013 and 10425 752 in 2012. RGI persuades states regularly to capture all births and increase the registration level.

Further, Government has also adopted a multi - pronged  strategy  entailing schemes and programmes and awareness generation/advocacy measures to build a po sitive environment for the  girl  child  through  gender  sensitive  policies,  provisions  and  legislation.  The  d important measures are enclosed in Annexure -I

(d) & (e): As  per  information  received  from  National  Crime  Records  Bureau  (NCRB),  a total of 50 cases were reported under female foeticide in 2014. State/UT - wise  data  of  cases registered for offence relating to female foeticide are at Annexure -II.

## Measures taken for gender sensitive policies, provisions and legislation

- The  Government  has  intensified  effective  implementation  of  the  Pre - conception  and Pre - natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 and amended various provisio ns of the Rules.

for

- The Government is rendering financial support to the states and UTs operationalization  of  PNDT  Cells,  Capacity  Building,  Orientation  &  Sensitisati Workshop, Information, Education and Communication campaigns and for strengthening  st ructures  for  the  implementation  of  the  PC  &  PNDT  Act  under  the National Health Mission (NHM).
- A  National  review  under  the  chairmanship  of  Additional  Secretary  and  Mission Director  (National  Health  Mission),  MoHFW  was  held  on  21st  September,  2015 through v ideo conferencing.
- Program review at the state level has been intensified.  Five regional review works for North, West, Central, North East and Southern region were organized during 201 -15.  During 2015 - 16 three regional review workshops have been o rganized for Northern Eastern,  Northern  and  Eastern  States  in  Imphal,  Chandigarh  and  Bhubaneswar respectively.
- National  campaign  'Beti  Bachao,  Beti  Padhao'  was  launched  in  100  gender  critical districts in partnership with Ministry of Woman and Child Devel opment and Human Recourse Development.
- Directions  given  by  the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  in  the  matter  of  WP(C)  349/2006 (Voluntary Health Association of Punjab vs. UOI & others), were communicated to the States/ UTs time to time for ensuring compliance.
- Inspections  by  the  National  Inspection  and  Monitoring  Committee  (NIMC)  for monitoring of the status of implementation of provisioins of PC&PNDT Acts have been scaled  up.  In  year  2014 - 15,  19  inspection  visits  have  been  undertaken  in  different States.Durin g 2015 - 16,  21  NIMC  inspections have been  conducted in the States of Punjab, Puducherry, Tripura, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttarakhand , Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.
- States  have  been  advised  to  focus  on  Districts/Blocks/Villages  with  low  Child  S Ratio  to  ascertain  the  causes,  plan  appropriate  behaviour  change  communicatio campaigns and effectively implement provisions of the PC & PNDT Act.

## Annexure - II

## Cases Registered under Female Foeticide in 2014 [Source -National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs]

| S. No.   | States/UTs         |   Cases Registered under Female Foeticide |
|----------|--------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| 1        | ANDHRA PRADESH     |                                         0 |
| 2        | ARUNACHAL PRADESH  |                                         0 |
| 3        | ASSAM              |                                         0 |
| 4        | BIHAR              |                                         0 |
| 5        | CHHATTISGARH       |                                         2 |
| 6        | GOA                |                                         0 |
| 7        | GUJARAT            |                                         0 |
| 8        | HARYANA            |                                         4 |
| 9        | HIMACHAL PRADESH   |                                         3 |
| 10       | JAMMU & KASHMIR    |                                         0 |
| 11       | JHARKHAND          |                                         0 |
| 12       | KARNATAKA          |                                         0 |
| 13       | KERALA             |                                         0 |
| 14       | MADHYA PRADESH     |                                        15 |
| 15       | MAHARASHTRA        |                                         1 |
| 16       | MANIPUR            |                                         0 |
| 17       | MEGHALAYA          |                                         0 |
| 18       | MIZORAM            |                                         0 |
| 19       | NAGALAND           |                                         0 |
| 20       | ODISHA             |                                         0 |
| 21       | PUNJAB             |                                         7 |
| 22       | RAJASTHAN          |                                        11 |
| 23       | SIKKIM             |                                         0 |
| 24       | TAMIL NADU         |                                         0 |
| 25       | Telangana          |                                         2 |
| 26       | TRIPURA            |                                         0 |
| 27       | UTTAR PRADESH      |                                         4 |
| 28       | UTTARAKHAND        |                                         1 |
| 29       | WEST BENGAL        |                                         0 |
|          | TOTAL (STATES)     |                                        50 |
| 30       | A&N ISLANDS        |                                         0 |
| 31       | CHANDIGARH         |                                         0 |
| 32       | D&N HAVELI         |                                         0 |
| 33       | DAMAN & DIU        |                                         0 |
| 34       | DELHI              |                                         0 |
| 35       | LAKSHADWEEP        |                                         0 |
| 36       | PUDUCHERRY         |                                         0 |
|          | TOTAL (UTs)        |                                         0 |
|          | TOTAL (ALL -INDIA) |                                        50 |