Meeting with Civil Society Members on declining child Sex ratio
Sharing of final data of Census 2011
Date: 10th June’2013
Sahabhagi Sikshan Kendra (S.S.K)
Vatsalya
Introduction
Vatsalya, a non profit organization, has been working on the issues of rights of the girl child since its inception in 1995. We at Vatsalya realized early on in our struggle that for effective advocacy at State level it was essential to build a network of like-minded and actively working NGOs across the state and work in consonance with them. In pursuance of this learning, a pan-State ‘Sanjha Manch’ was formed in 2008 with the primary aim of creating and sustaining a network of NGOs actively working for the rights of the girl child and against SSE.
Members of the ‘Sanjha Manch’ as well as new NGOs who are working on the issue meet at least once an year to review the work done in this behalf, discuss the challenges they faced and formulate a joint strategy for the future so that the issue remains a priority and does not suffer the fate of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
In pursuance of the same effort, Vatsalya has successfully coordinated the NGO Workshop with the support of NGO partners in the past and has also continued to support them in their efforts whenever required. We conducted extensive follow-up exercises which have led to a strong baseline of RTI applications, information gleaned from the same, PILs being filed against those who contravene the PCPNDT Act & also large scale community intervention, both in Lucknow and the intervening districts of the NGO partners.
Agenda
Time / Topic for Discussion / Facilitators9:30 – 10:00 AM / Breakfast
10:00 – 10:10 AM / Registration
10:10 – 10:30 AM / INTRODUCTORY SESSION / Objective of the Workshop
Introduction of the Participants / Mr. Rajesh Tiwari
10:20 – 11:00 AM / Introduction to the issue (FF)
· Data sharing (Census)
· Understanding the dynamics of demand and supply
· Social consequences / Dr. Neelam Singh, Chief Functionary, Vatsalya
11:00 – 12:00 PM / A detailed overview of the Act
· Objective of the PCPNDT Act
· Statutory Mechanisms
· Violations
· Penalties
· Latest Amendments (GOs)
12:00 – 1:00 PM / OPEN DISCUSSION / · Case Studies
· RTI Applications
· Learnings from field/programmatic interventions / Dr. Vaibhav Pathak & Mr. Rajesh Tiwari
1:00 – 1:45 PM LUNCH
1:45 – 2:30 PM / IMPLEMENTATION STATUS / Status of Implementation of PCPNDT Act in UP
· Sharing of study report
· Sharing of cases to be filed in CJM Court
· Status of cases pending in court
· USC Mapping data sharing
· Reasons for weak implementation of Act
· Order of Supreme Court / Dr. Neelam Singh
2:30 – 3:30 PM / ACTION PLAN / Sharing of formats
· RTI Applications
· Application of complaint to AA u/Sec 28
· Process of complaint u/the Act
· USC Mapping
· DAC Mapping (NGO Member) / Mr. Rajesh Tiwari & Dr. Vaibhav Pathak
Objective of the Workshop
· To bring together on a common platform all NGO partners that have participated in the last orientation for advocacy efforts at district level on the implementation of PCPNDT Act
· Orientation of new NGOs that are yet to be associated for the cause
· Discussion on the challenges faced & sharing of new learnings & guiding principles
· Review and discussion on several path-breaking efforts that have led to PILs being filed in court which is a huge step in the right direction
· Further follow-up, planning & strategizing for the coming year
Date / Venue / Resource Persons / Nature of participants / No. Of participants12th June’13 / Sahbhagi Sikshan Kendra (SSK), Lucknow / Dr. Neelam Singh / Chief Functionaries/Representatives of NGOs working on the issues of child rights and female foeticide / 35
Introductory Session
Mr. Rajesh Tiwari (State Motivator, LGBB) welcomed the NGO partners to the workshop and brought them face to face with the objective of the workshop. He stressed that community level intervention should go hand in hand with advocacy efforts for stronger implementation of the Act.
He appreciated the efforts of NGO partners for supporting Vatsalya to implement the act and forming a strong network of 25-30 NGO partners of respective districts for advocating issue in their locale. Many partners are actively participating in the capacity of DAC members, PILs have been filed under the Act, RTI applications have been filed for garnering information from the authorities, mapping of USCs has been done in many districts and unregistered centers have been traced. The RTIs filed by NGO partners are used as an evidence to reflect the gaps in implementation of act.
Lacunae in the implementation process and a lack of initiative at all levels are a major reason that the Act has not extensively been implemented across the state. Advocacy efforts should be intensified in order to attain maximum penetration of the Act in the state.
Mr. Rajesh Tiwari further introduced the participants to the agenda of the workshop, the handouts distributed to the participants and their utilization.
Participants were invited to introduce themselves to each other.
Perception around the issue of declining child sex ratio
To develop a comprehensive understanding on the issue of declining child sex ratio the participants were divided into 4 groups and each group was given 4 cards to discuss upon those. Post discussion following were the key points which came up from the participants:
· What is a role of NGO representative in combating with the issue of declining child sex ratio and how?
o Raising awareness on the issue of declining child sex ratio & its social consequences.
o Non government organization works as a bridge between society and government, thus aid in implementing act at ground level.
· Which districts have shown sharp decline in child sex ratio?
o Balia, Behraich, Pillibhit, Hardoi, Siddharthanagar, Varanasi, Maharganj & Bijnore are the districts which have shown sharp decline in child sex ratio.
· How do you see the issue
o The issue of female foeticide is also seen has the violation of right of girl child, in form of aborting her in womb and also violence against women for forcing her to go for repetitive sex selective abortion.
· What is the best way to combat with the issue of declining child sex ratio
o We need to change the mindset along with the strong implementation of act to combat with the issue, women empowerment being the focus.
o Change in government policies concomitant to girl child.
The above discussions aid the resource person to understand the perception of participants. Post the discussion Mr. Rajesh Tiwari welcomed Dr. Neelam Singh.
Dr. Neelam Singh is an expert in the field of gender and has been rigorously working towards the effective implementation of PC-PNDT Act in Uttar Pradesh. She is a founder member and chief functionary of Vatsalya (a non for profit organization) who took up the mission for saving the unborn girls in UP. She has been appointed by the ministry of health & family welfare (GOI) as a member of Central Supervisory Board and the member of National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC). She is also a member/technical expert in various state and district technical forums at state and district level.
Dr. Neelam Singh started the session with discussion that our society is patriarchal. Religion, law, state, media and society play an important role in making the status of women secondary in our society. These all are interconnected to establish the superiority of men in society.
Following the discussion she narrated a story of a village and monkey. She compared Technology (Ultrasound machine) by monkey who formerly used to throw fruits from the tree. As the villagers with their children reached near the tree in greed of fruits slowly and gradually monkey started biting the children. Many tried to explain the villagers but no one stopped going there. Similarly ultrasound machine formerly was used for diagnosis but when the demand increased for Sex selection the misuse to technology started to happen. From many years campaign for behavior change are being conducted but as the story reflected it is a long and not an easy process to change the mindset of the people. As decided by the villagers to catch the monkey similarly to combat with the issue of declining child sex ratio the focus should be on strict implementation of PCPNDT Act and bring to an end the misuse of technology.
She acknowledged that how ultrasound machine is mushrooming in interior districts for creating demand in the area.
Post this discussion the perception of participants changed and they agreed that strict implementation of PCPNDT Act is essential to curb female foeticide.
Live telephonic decoy operation:
Mr. Reetesh Kumar (from Vatsalya) went a step ahead and showcased the participants a live demonstration of a decoy;
Objective of- live telephonic display of decoy operation:
· To demonstrate the participants that how a decoy can be done by any of the people sitting in the conference hall.
· To showcase the participants that via usage of simple means of communication and inter-personal skills how we can nab and catch the defaulter.
· To make it a part of their learning so that in future they themselves can reiterate the same while scanning someone.
· To show the participants that how via usage of simple mobile phone (enabled recorder/camera) we can get our work done and subsequently inform the corresponding authorities.
“Getting the evidence based information from Mr. Reetesh Kumar had a conversation with the middlewoman (Dai of district hospital). He proposed for the similar hospitality from him, for a sex selective abortion. He had this conversation in front of the NGO partners during the workshop. He maintained the tone and the quality of her sound in the same local, portraying himself as a rural localite living nearby. The middle woman got convinced from the apathy which the former was suffering from and pleading to go for a sex determination of his relative pregnant for the third time. The middle woman told him to talk later to discuss on the expenditure that would be costing (for sex determination & abortion) to him & his family.
Dr. Singh shared her field experience of Kushinagar where the Pradhan of a village openly proclaimed that he had opened a USC which was being operated by his son who was studying science in class 12th. She added that only 10% of the qualified doctors are engaged in sex selection while rest are unqualified and for creating business give false information to the patient. In addition to this Mr. Balbeer shared an incidence in which her relative undergone for sex selection and doctor reported a baby girl in her womb, buy with the pressure of Mr. Balbeer she could not eliminate her. After a few months she delivered a baby boy which reflects that for creating business false reporting is being done
Data Sharing (Source: Census 2011 & AHS 2010-11)
Dr. Neelam singh started with the presentation on Child Sex Ratio & its fall, Situation analysis and Census 2011- revised data.
She acknowledged the participants on sources of data which reflects the occurrence of sex selective abortion in society. Annual Health survey releases a data of child sex ratio at birth every year in Empowered Action Group States (Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Assam). But since the birth registration system of Uttar Pradesh is poor so the authenticity of this indicator decreases.
The data released by census is more authentic as the sample size is large and it releases the data after every 10 years.
She shared the data to sex ratio (number of women per thousand men in a given population at a given time) of India & UP. According to Census 2011, the National Sex Ratio was observed to be 940 & of Uttar Pradesh 908.
Participants were also acknowledged on the child sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males in the age group 0 – 6 years in a human population.) of National Vs State. The child sex ratio in Uttar Pradesh declined by 14 points as per the final data of census 2011 compared to 13 points at national level. The data reflects that the on an average the cases of sex determination is more at state level contrary to national level. In Uttar Pradesh CSR of rural areas have shown sharp decline of 15 points compared to 5 points in urban area. It depicts that technology has made its way to the rural areas also in last decade. Now we should strategize to fight with the issue for rural areas and our concern should be to hinder the supply chain in rural areas as according to final data of Census 2011, 77% of total population lives in rural area.
Dr. Neelam Singh showed the next slide which illustrates two maps of Uttar Pradesh; the one on the left showing the Child Sex Ratio of 2001 and the one on the right showing the Child Sex Ratio for Uttar Pradesh in 2011; both sourced from Census. The Green areas indicate CSR above 926; the light green indicating CSR between 901 and 926; the yellow areas indicate CSR between 878 and 900; the orange indicates CSR between 861 and 876 while the Red indicates CSR below 860.
She acknowledged the participants on top districts showing increase in child sex ratio. She added that the trend of increase in child sex ratio is not because in these districts the sex determination is not happening but the technology of determining sex in the foetus is being provided to the community of adjoining districts, and not the locale community. For example Ultrasound Centers of Lucknow district supply the service to the nearby districts like Barabanki, Sitapur, etc and not to the local public.