According to Indian official statistics, in the past three months, 216 children were born in 132 villages in utarkash County, North arkhand state, none of them were female infants. Local administrative departments are 'confused' about this.
Al Jazeera reported on July 23, citing official data from India, that although among the 947 newborns born in the past three months in 500 villages under utarkash County, there were slightly more women (479) than boys (468), there were no female babies in 132 villages. The Hindustan Times reported on July 22 that the data "confused" the local government.
According to the times of India, none of the 216 babies born in 132 villages in dumda block, bhatwari Town, naugun Town, Mori Town, chinyalisaur town and Purola block of the county is a female baby. The data may indicate that there is a serious problem of female abortion in utarkassi county.
According to Al Jazeera, Rika middot, Minister of women and child welfare of North arkhand; Rekha Arya has asked the regional authorities for a report. She said: "officials will investigate the matter to see if there are people there who have been forced or aborted."
AHIS & middot, judge of utarkash County; Dr. Ashish chauhan said, '82 of the 132 villages have a high delivery rate. We will investigate these villages first.' He told the times of India, 'this may be a coincidence, because there is no evidence of female abortion at present, and we can't take any risk.' According to him, the local government will monitor the data and activities of 132 villages in the next six months. " If the situation does not improve, we will take severe measures against community health workers (ASHA). In addition, we will take legal action against families suspected of committing crimes. "
India outlawed sex selective abortion in 1994, but this practice is still widespread. A 2011 study in the British medical journal the lancet found that as many as 12 million female fetuses in India have been aborted in the past 30 years.
Alok & middot, development expert of India Population Fund; In an interview with Al Jazeera, Alok Vajpayee said that the situation in utarkash county was "appalling, but not unexpected". He believes that India's "profound social and cultural rules are responsible for such things". In India, men inherit family names and support their families as adults. Women's marriage means that the bride's family needs to give a large amount of dowry to the groom's family, so women are regarded as a 'disadvantage'.
Earlier this month, Indian media reported that in kaithal, Haryana State, a woman threw a newborn baby girl into the sewer, but the dying baby was later rescued by two stray dogs. The survival situation of female infants in India has again attracted attention.
In 2015, Maneka & middot, then Minister of women and child development of India; Maneka Gandhi once pointed out that 2000 girls in the country are 'killed' every day because of the preference for boys. She said, 'some baby girls were born with pillows over their faces and suffocated to death.' In the same year, Indian Prime Minister modi launched the "save daughters, educate daughters" (Beti Bachao, Beti padhao) plan to solve the gender imbalance and change people's views on girls. However, according to a report by Bloomberg in January this year, more than 56% of the funds allocated by the plan are used for 'media related activities', and less than 25% of the funds are paid to local governments.
Vajpayee said, "the government has taken the initiative, but the actual work has yet to take shape." Ranjana & middot, director of the centre for social studies, New Delhi; Ranjana Kumari said there was a 'mismatch' between the statements made by the leaders and the measures taken by government agencies. "Obviously, the implementation of the plan is scarce, and our people who are committed to these issues can't see any progress," she said