As part of our Meri Shakti Meri Beti project, which aims to stop sex selective activities, we formed the Community Watch Group (CWG) for Dabri project area at the Aganwadi Centre, on 10th May.

The CWG has been created so that vigil can be kept over the immediate society to help in curbing the declining sex ratio; ensure citizen participation in proper project implementation, to generate awareness at the grass root level about the negative consequences of female foeticide; and to increase awareness about the PCPNDT Act. CWG members have been selected from within the community, and include people from all age groups. They will counsel the high-risk families, newly-wed couples and parents of girl children.

The people present in the meeting were extremely enthusiastic, as they felt a sense of ownership at being involved in the project. They also expressed greater interest in the cause, after watching the “Satyamev Jayate” episode on female foeticide.

Through an animation film, role play, and a small talk on the provisions of the PCPNDT Act, the CSR team tried to provide a holistic perspective of sex selective activities. Efforts were made to sensitize the CWG regarding the declining sex ratio and to make them realize that they can make a difference in their immediate society, if they resist sex- selective abortions.

Dr. Manasi Mishra, Head of Research Division at CSR, voiced that women can play a catalystic role if they protect the rights of other women members of the family and respect each other. The CWG members were provided materials regarding sex selective activities, along with the contact details of people, who can be informed in the event of such activities taking place in the community.

The CWG members promised that they shall make all efforts to stop such sex selective activities in their community and shall contribute to the successful implementation of the ‘Meri Shakti Meri Beti’ project. The formation of CWG is considered important for the project as it requires that the citizens take charge of the social change, and ensure long term sustainability of the project.

By Ranjani Raghunathan, Intern – Media & Communication Division

On Tuesday, March 20, 2012, CSR launched the second phase of its previous program Meri Shakti,Meri Beti (My Daughter, My Strength). The program aims to address the challenge through multiple interventions which include carrying sensitization with families and engaging with other stakeholders to correct the existing sex ratio imbalance in the capital.

To mark the launch, CSR organized a ‘Kanya Janm Mahotsav’ in the Aanganwadi Center, next to the Kishangarh Choupal. The aim of this event was to raise awareness regarding female foeticide, as well as to explain the project and its goals to the community members. At this event, fifty mothers with girl children up to 1 year of age were felicitated, and celebrated, for giving birth to a girl child.

The MSMB project is supported by the German Embassy and the chief guest for this event was the German Ambassador His Excellency Mr. Cord Meier–Koldt. The event started with a poem recitation by two girls of the Choupal, which was about female foeticide, thus setting the tone of the entire event. This was followed by a brief description of CSR, the work undertaken and the long association with the community, done by Dr. Milly Chatterjee, Head of the Development Division. Then, Dr. Manasi Mishra, Head of the Research Division, spoke about the MSMB project, and its relevance. Following this, the German delegates were felicitated, and Dr. Ranjana Kumari, the Director of CSR, said a few lines on the importance of the girl child, and how this MSMB project needs community support for its success. She then called upon the German Ambassador to address the people gathered, who expressed his pleasure at being associated with such a project, and the important role of women in societies across the world.

Following the speeches, the felicitation ceremony began. The fifty pre-selected mothers of girl children were called, and the German Ambassador put a tika on their forehead, garlanded them, and handed over a gift to the child. Once the felicitation ceremony ended, the ladies of the community gathered to dance and sing, and created an atmosphere of celebration.

The Kanya Janm Mahotsav was an initiative to make the community members realize that the birth of a girl child, is as much a cause of celebration and joy, as the birth of a boy. It aimed to create awareness amongst the people about female foeticide, and how wrong it is. The event was also an attempt to convey to the community members, that the success of the MSMB program relies on people like them, and every single person present, can make a significant contribution to end the evil of female foeticide.

By Ranjani Raghunathan, Intern – Media & Communication Division

Picture courtesy ' The Hindu '

On the 20th of March, CSR, along with the German Embassy, celebrates ‘Kanya Janm Mahotsav’, where 50 mothers of young girl children will be fecilitated, along with the launch of the Meri Shakti Meri Beti Phase-II project in the South-west districts of Delhi namely Delhi Cantonment (Vasant Kunj & Mahipalpur), Najafgarh ( Dabri & Dwaraka) and Vasant Vihar (Vasant Vihar & R.K. Puram).

Much has been written and debated about India’s skewed gender ratio. While the sex ratio has increased over the past twenty years (927 females to 1,000 males in 1991, 933 in 2001 and 940 in 2011), the rise is still minimal, and India still remains, by and large, a society which prefers male children over female ones. Female foeticide as a phenomenon, is a harsh reality, which persists across class and caste barriers. In fact, richer states like Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc. have lower sex ratio. The capital of India, Delhi, and its surrounding areas (the National Capital Territory) are subject to much scrutiny as this is where all government schemes regarding sex ratio and female foeticide are formulated and implemented first.

The following table is a compilation of Census data, and provides a snapshot of the sex ratio figures from 1991 to 2011. In addition to the overall sex ratio, the following table also provides figures for the 0-6 age bracket, which will enable further understanding of the present situation.

As the table shows, the sex ratios have improved considerably in the past twenty years. The Delhi NCT state average has gone up from 827 in 1991, to 866 in 2011. Although still a considerably low number than the national average, the increase is no doubt a positive sign. However, the sex ratios for the age group 0-6 years, are varied. The Delhi NCT state average for this age group has actually gone down from 868 in 2001, to 866 in 2011. Except for West Delhi, North West Delhi, North East Delhi and South-west Delhi, the sex ratios for the age group 0-6 years has actually reduced from 2001 to 2011. This is shocking, as while on one hand, literacy rates in the Delhi NCT are going up (from 81.67% in 2001 to 86.34% in 2011) and poverty rates are coming down, social norms are still dictating the society, and causing the deaths of numerous girl children in the mother’s womb. Female foeticide doesn’t just skew the sex ratio, but also causes a host of health problems for women, thus it is imperative that steps should be taken to prevent it.

Across the country, many steps are taken to increase awareness regarding the ill effects of female foeticide. Mrs. Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi, has lamented at the Delhi’s dismal sex ratio, and has mentioned the development of a ‘multi-pronged’ strategy to rectifiy this. In Maharashtra, the state government has appointed film actors Ajay Devgan and Kajol as brand ambassadors of its campaign to save the girl child. Numerous advertisements by various state ministries have been aired on television and radio, appealing to a mass audience to welcome the birth of daughters. Many documentaries and films have been produced on the phenomenon of female foeticide, the most prominent of them being ‘Matrubhoomi’, a critically acclaimed and award winning movie by Manish Jha.

While at the outset, it seems as if these measures are yielding no positive results for Delhi NCT, it needs to be understood that stronger actions need to be taken in order to have a balanced sex ratio in India, and in Delhi particularly. Rectifying the skewed sex ratio is an important step in India’s progress, and it is high time the citizens realize this.

By Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director of Centre for Social Research. 

Every newborn girl child will now be adopted by the Government of India. This is the India Planning Commission’s vision, in a new bid to tackle the country’s declining sex ratio. The Commission’s proposal renders the government responsible for the protection of pregnant mothers and their unborn daughters in rural areas, through involvement of health workers and local NGOs, and cash incentives for mothers and midwives.

The Planning Commission suggests monitoring all pregnancies in India by detecting the sex of the child early on and then subsequently supporting parents expecting a girl. Health workers will assist the mother through every stage of her pregnancy and track the growth of the child until she reaches two years of age.

At present, sex determination tests are illegal in India.  When taken with the intention of preventing female births, such tests constitute a violation of the most fundamental human right, the right to life, and are a clear manifestation of violence against women.  Nonetheless, the void between the number of female and male children continues to expand, and India bears the shame of having the worst sex ratio in the world. 2011 Census data reveals the number of girl children (aged 0-6) has decreased from 927 to 914 girls per 1000 boys in the last decade. This is a good indication of the extent to which sex-selective abortions and other harmful practices are carried out in India, regardless of preventative legislation.

The Planning Commission is therefore highly critical of the ban on sex determination tests and proposes relaxing the law to make way for an alternative, more effective solution. However, their proposed alternative will only aggravate the problem. The idea of conducting sex determination tests in rural India is, for lack of a better word, ridiculous. This proposal is not only short-sighted because it overlooks the strong prevalence of pre-natal sex selection in urban areas, but also for failing to address the socio-economic and cultural context of the declining child sex ratio. In light of poverty, patriarchal social structures and traditions, or a combination of all three, parents-to-be continue to go to all lengths to avoid having a girl child. As a result, between 1980 and 2010, somewhere between four to twelve million Indian girls were aborted because of their sex. The question is therefore, when the parents themselves do not want to give birth to girls, how effective can the government really be in persuading them to change their mindsets? Determining the sex of every unborn child in India would make women very vulnerable to pressure and violence from family and community members, potentially leading to an increase in abortion and suicide rates.

Sadly, while the ban on sex determination tests was at one time a landmark achievement,  the Indian girl child is now being treated as a pawn in a game of statistics and unethical lobbying, not as a human being. Now is not the time to relax India’s law on the prohibition of sex determination tests.

On April 25 and 26, members of our research team, including Head of Research Dr. Manasi Mishra, were invited to participate at key speakers at the second Beti Bachao (Save the Girl Child) conference in Panipat, Haryana state. Beti Bachao was founded last year in Ambala by activists from 14 Indian states and meets annually to strengthen the campaign.

Organised by the Alliance for People’s Movement (NAPM) and Asha Parivar, the conference was jointly inaugurated by Chaudhary Virendar Singh, General Secretary of All India Congress Committee; Manimala, social activist and writer; Veena Behen from Gandhi Global Family; and eminent Pakistani peace activist Saeeda Deep. More than seven hundred people from across India participated in the conference.

By Michelle Tan, Intern – Research Department.

Dressed in a plain brown Saree, a 44-year-old woman from a remote rural village in Ambala (Haryana state) peered at us curiously when we knocked on the broken, rusty gates of her house. “Namaste,” my colleague Amrita said. “We are from Centre for Social Research and would like to conduct a quick survey with you. Can we come in?” The woman nodded her head shyly, smiled at us and then excitedly beckoned us into the front yard of her house.

To say that she lived in a “house” might be somewhat of a misnomer, especially since her “house” was in fact really a shed, and there were half-laid stones and bricks strewn everywhere. The walls were Grey and incomplete, and construction had obviously long been in progress. We sat down on the only piece of furniture to begin what we had initially imagined would be a typical conversation on female foeticide—or, as typical as a conversation on female foeticide could be. What we didn’t expect was that our host would so warmly and immediately open up to us, revealing her most personal experiences of sexs election, discrimination and the ordeal she went through when standing up against it.

Already a mother of one boy and two girls, our host was pregnant for the fourth time when her in-laws and husband found out from a sonogram that she was once again expecting a girl child. Angered by the news, the family adamantly insisted that she should undergo an abortion. They, like so many in India, believed that a girl child was a waste of family resources. A girl, they argued, was of no particular value and as a result of dowry, she would also be impossibly expensive. But unlike many mothers who silently suffered, our host was strong-willed and refused to give up her child or undergo an abortion. She was henceforth disgraced and expelled from her family, slammed in the face with a quick divorce. Shamed by the scandals of their daughter, her parents put her up for a second arranged marriage. She married again, but her husband died young in the Indian army, and she became a widow. At the moment, she continues to bravely and independently support four young children on her own—an incredibly rare, brave and admirable feat especially in rural India.

We left that day, humbled and in awe of this incredibly strong woman. Her story serves as a painful and grave reminder that female foeticide, for all its supposed allegations and denials, is still a real and pervasive reality in much of Indian society today. Her story reminds us that women who transgress from the norm and elect to stand up against their family to save a female fetus risk losing their livelihoods, if not their lives. Her story stands out not only because she was empowered in spite of lacking a formal education or any privileges whatsoever, but also because she spoke with no complaint and no expectations of sympathy. That’s where she stands victorious: because this one woman in her plain brown Saree does not see herself as an object of pity, but as a woman in her totality who can and will get her due in her own right.

View more photos from the April 5-7 baseline study in Ambala at Centre for Social Research’s Flickr account.

Yesterday, our Research team held a Community Watch Group meeting as part of our Meri Shakti, Meri Beti project at the anganwaadi (daycare) centre in the Manav Chowk and Kotwali Sarai areas of Ambala, Haryana.The meeting brought together over 30 women from the local community as well as young girls and boys.

Major issues discussed included the need for educating boys and girls so that they know more about their rights and duties as community and family members. Many women called for recruiting more men to Community Watch Group meetings to enlist their help in spreading awareness about pre-natal sex selection (female foeticide) and the need for equality between genders.

Community Watch Groups meetings are an important part of our team’s work on violence against women, female foeticide and overall efforts to promote gender equality. They represent an important opportunity to interact with local communities and share ideas on how best to move forward on these issues.