Womens group lobby for implementation of PC/PNDT Act

Jaipur, Feb 2 (UNI) The state governments totally lack in monitoring the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technologies Act (PC/PNDT Act) as till now only 23 cases have been registered under it but no action has been taken against any guilty, says a women advocacy group.

Women Power Connect (WPC), a countrywide lobby group, which is organising a two-day workshop here on the issue, has demanded that a district magistrate be made in charge of the investigations as a strong nexus exists between flying checking squads and nursing homes which indulge in female foeticides, helping them to erase all evidences well before time.

The women group, comprising 52 organisations, is coming together to form a common platform to pressurise the state governments to streamline the monitoring system of implementation of PC/PNDT Act which came into being in 1994, informed Dr Ranjana Kumari, president, WPC.

They are demanding the formation of a law enforcement body to keep a watch and also a inter-ministerial committee at the national level. The groups are also wanting that the High Courts be allowed to take suo moto action in these cases.

The workshop focusing on declining girl-child sex ratio for five western states namely, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Maharashtra, is dwelling on creating effective mechanisms in consultation with stake holders to effectively lobby and hold government accountable for stringent implementation of the Act, especially at the state level.

The 2001 census says all districts in Rajasthan have a child sex ratio of 950 girls except three. Child sex ratio improved in Sawai Madhopur slightly but declined in adjacent districts of Alwar, Jhunjhunu, Sikar and Jaipur, which have recorded less than 900 girls to 1,000 boys.

In Jaisalmer the child sex ratio showed a marginal increase after 10 years, registering 687 girls to 1,000 boys as against 851 in 1991.

UNI