Discuss the situation of girl child in India.
Year and Decade of the Girl Child and Indian Scenario: The emergence of sex -identification techniques heralded a new discriminatory regime in India, which is responsible today for the dramatic sex -ratio situation in many of its regions. What primarily distinguishes the combination of scan and abortion from older methods is its high level of efficiency in terms of outcome. Moreover, these services were provided by the medical community, and thus, inspired much more trust than the traditional methods implemented by local specialists (such as traditional healers).
A further advantage lays in the shortened duration of the process of sex selection, as families did not have to wait until delivery. While still traumatic for many women, abortion was considered far less physically or psychologically painful than a pregnancy followed by infanticide, or later infant or child deaths. Compared to the older methods, this new technique also spares women months of pregnancy and final delivery, or of raising an “unwanted” girl child; it also appears to be a modern way to go about sex selection.
Another advantage over the techniques of the old regime relates to the fact that an early abortion allows women to avoid exposure from others outside their immediate family members. Many couples could therefore conceal their pregnancy, and implement their sex -discrimination strategy, with little scrutiny from the community at large. The reason for this dramatic shift stems from the introduction into India of methods of prenatal sex determination, such as amniocentesis and ultrasound technology.
While part of an overall effort, to improve health conditions for both mothers and child ren, these new technologies had the unexpected option of offering couples advanced information on the sex of their future child ren. Some years earlier, India had also established a new and rather liberal law on abortion, which in many cases rendered the termination of a pregnancy considerably easier, for reasons ranging from foetal physical defect to contraception failure. As such, the change in abortion regulations was an offshoot of a government endeavour unrelated to sex discrimination. The law was primarily meant to address the issue of unwanted pregnancies, as part of a comprehensive family-planning strategy that encompassed many contraceptive options, as well.
