The Hindu

Call for better monitoring of pre-natal screening centres 

• PCPNDT Act has stringent measures to prevent pre-natal screening
• Determination and disclosure of the sex of a foetus prohibited

Bangalore, Mar 11: Female foeticide takes place not only in North Karnataka districts such as Belgaum, Bijapur and Bagalkot but also Bangalore, said P K Srinivas, duty project administrator of Karnataka Health System Development Project and Reforms, on Friday.

He said that in seven of the 100 wards in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike limits, the child sex ratio (females per 1,000 males in the age group of 0-6 years) is less than 900.

In some areas under city municipal councils, the figures are: Dasarahalli (841), Bommanahalli (865) and Hebbugodi (861).

Speaking at seminar on bringing a halt to female foeticide, organized by Mahila Dakshata Samiti and Bangalore Urban District Legal Services Authority here, Srinivas said societal norms that looked up to a male child as the family saviour and poor implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act in Karnataka are reasons for the horrendous practice continuing in the State.

Srinivas said the District Advisory Committee, which meets every month to register scanning centres, needs to maintain better scrutiny on the centre's activities.

He said the Act has several stringent measures to prevent pre-natal screening. The Act prohibits determination and disclosure of the sex of a foetus.

Police Commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh said the police will soon undergo a sensitization drive. Within the next two weeks copies of the PCPNDT Act will be circulated in every police station all over the State.