'10 lakh girls missing from Indian population'

FEMALE FOETICIDE: Child Development Minister says 10 lakh girls are missing from Indian Population due to selective abortion.

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New Delhi: Pre-natal sex determination and female foeticide is more prevalent in the urban, educated and prosperous classes, Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhary said on Wednesday.

"Female foeticide is an extreme manifestation of violence against women. Female fetuses are selectively aborted after pre-natal sex determination, thus avoiding the birth of girls. As a result of selective abortion, about 10 lakh girls are missing from the Indian Population," she said at a session held as part of week-long celebration to mark International Women's Day on March 8.

The easy accessibility to ultra sound technology which has percolated even to the rural areas and increase in mobile van delivering services has made sex selective determination and foeticide more common, she said.

The figures released show that the high incidence of female foeticide is reflected in the fall in child sex ratio (0-6) years in India which has declined drastically from 945 in 1991 to 927 per 1000 males in 2001.

"These are some of the reasons that has contributed to the declining sex ratio and created a social imbalance. More women are likely to be exploited as sex workers, violence against women in the form of trafficking and reemergence of practices such as polyandry, cases of molestation and rape will become more and more frequent," she added.

The women and Child Development Ministry has organised a series of programmes to mark the International Women's Day. The Ministry has also taken the initiative to spread awareness on protecting girl child and about the rights of women through the railway tickets.

To mark the day, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Railways and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation have been making special announcements. The baggage tags would carry the slogan 'survival to success celebrate her life'.