PTI
LONDON, Jun 22: Daughters in India are disappearing due to cultural preference for boys, according to prominent UK-based charity organisation ActionAid.
New research by ActionAid and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) shows that the number of girls born and surviving in northern India compared to boys falls far short of normal expectations, and continues to slide.
The research has been published in a reported titled Disappearing Daughters.
It said that deeply entrenched discrimination against women has led to the survival rates of girls hitting an all-time low. With parts of society regarding girls as little more than economic and social burdens, families are going to extreme lengths to avoid having daughters, it added.
ActionAid and IDRCs research reveals that, despite policies to address girls rights and public information campaigns, sex-selective abortion and neglect are on the increase.
It alleged that although prenatal sex detection and sex-selective abortion was illegal, the law is not being enforced. Doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners were allegedly routinely violating the ban, performing abortions of female foetuses and benefiting financially.
It estimated that around 10 million female fetuses may have been aborted in India over the last two decades.
In one site in Punjab state, there are just 300 girls to every 1,000 boys among higher caste families, it says. ActionAid says India faces a "bleak" future if it does not end its practice of cultural preference for boys.
More than 6,000 households in sites across five states in north-western India were interviewed and statistical comparisons were made with national census date.
Under "normal" circumstances, there should be about 950 girls for every 1,000 boys, the charity said. But it said that in three of the five sites, that number was below 800.
"The real horror of the situation is that, for women, avoiding having daughters is a rational choice. But for wider society it's creating an appalling and desperate state of affairs," Laura Turquet, women's rights policy official at ActionAid said.
"In the long term, cultural attitudes need to change. India must address economic and social barriers including property rights, marriage dowries and gender roles that condemn girls before they are even born," Turquet said, adding "If we don't act now the future looks bleak."