Female foeticide in India is a traditional problem, rampant across multiple states and regions. The popular belief, however, is that these attitudes of prejudice plague rural India. The prevalent notion is that “educated classes” don’t support practices like sex-selection or foeticide. Some will say “this happens only in poor families”, others will point out regions (mostly in North India). A recent study and government data shows that the stereotypes are not rooted in reality. Here are some of the findings:

• 238 foetuses and newborns were abandoned in Delhi’s South Delhi region between 1996-2012
• 35 per cent of these cases were stillborn, 29 per cent were born alive and 36 per cent were born before the period of viability
• Among the live born cases, the majority of the deaths were attributed to murder (77 per cent), followed by natural causes (19 per cent) and accidental (one per cent)

These are some of the major findings of a study – the first one from India to discuss all forensically-known cases of abandoned foetuses and newborns- conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which was published in the latest issue of the Medico-Legal Journal in the United Kingdom.

As many as 53 male foeticides were reported in 2014 across India, as compared to 50 cases of female foeticides. The sex of four foetuses were unknown, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data . The NCRB started collecting data for female foeticide only from 2014, as reported by data journalism portal IndiaSpend.

Delhi is divided into nine districts officially – North West, South, West, North East, South West, East, North, Central and New Delhi. Based on a slightly-loose definition, two districts should ideally comprise of the South Delhi region – South and South West. Official data from the Delhi Economic Survey 2014-15 states that these two districts have some of the lowest sex ratios among all districts in Delhi – indicating a correlation with the findings of the AIIMS study.

At 822 (per 1,000), New Delhi has the lowest sex ratio among all districts in Delhi. Overall, Delhi has a sex ratio of 868, which is significantly lower than India’s ratio of 940 and among the worst five states/union territories. The ratio has improved from 821 in 2001, as per Census 2011 data. South Delhi, which was among the worst three as per the 2011 Census, has made a phenomenal improvement from 799 in 2001 to 862 in 2011 – a jump of 63 points.

Surprisingly, Union Territories fare worse in sex ratios. The sex ratios of districts in Delhi are comparable to theirs.  A significant point to be noted here is that seven of Delhi’s nine districts are classified as “gender critical” under the Beti Padhao Beti Bachao scheme. The scheme had found 100 districts in the initial phase of the program, but added 61 more to the list earlier this year.

In 1994, the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act was enacted to stop female foeticide and arrest the declining sex ratio by banning pre-natal sex determination.  However, implementation remains a concern.

As many as 30 states and Union Territories have not convicted even a single person for pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic between 2011 and 2013, raising concerns about the poor implementation of the PCPNDT Act, according to data available with the Health Ministry and as reported by The New Indian Express. Only 32 people were punished in India even though 563 cases were reported for conducting sex determination tests between 2011 and 2013. Ever since the law has been enacted, only 350 people have been convicted (approximately 18 every year).

Delhi’s daughters 

In October 2015, as many as 89 hospitals and nursing homes, which reported child sex ratio at birth of 800 girls for every 1,000 boys in Delhi, were issued show cause notices to explain the reasons behind the skewed ratio. “These hospitals and nursing homes had a sex ratio even lower than Delhi’s average. Some as low as 300 girls per 1,000 boys. It cannot be a coincidence. Something is definitely wrong and thus we have sent notices,” Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain told Hindustan Times. He added that among those who have been given notices, one hospital reported only 24 girls of the 64 deliveries it conducted, another hospital had 75 girls of the 186 deliveries — a sex ratio of 403 girls per 1,000 boys.

In response to the notices – which came earlier this month – some hospitals blamed skewed sex ratio on the “almighty”. With a sex ratio of 789, Garg Medical Centre in Paschim Vihar, in their response, reportedly said “We have no control over this, it’s God’s selection”, while UK Nursing Home (in Vikas Puri), with a sex ratio of 714, stated, “the birth of male/female is purely an act of God and the nursing home has no role to play in it”.

Recent government data, however, suggest Delhi might be bucking this established trend very, very tentatively. The sex ratio at birth in Delhi has gone up from 896 females per thousand males in 2014, to 898 in 2015 according to the annual report on registration of births and deaths of Delhi for 2015.