Workshop expresses grave concern over plight of women

Mumbai, June 12 (UNI) In India, every 54 minutes a rape takes place, every 26 minutes a woman is molested, and every 10 minutes a woman is burnt to death over dowry.

''Every 7 minutes a criminal offence takes place against women and every 4 minutes a woman is kidnapped,'' says Sabu George an activist and journalist quoting statistics.

He was speaking at a three-day workshop on ''Gender and Media'' at Lonavala near here.

Later speaking to reporters, Mr George also expressed concern over female foeticide saying, ''Here we are not dealing with subtle discrimination -- we are dealing with genocide. We have to hold the medical profession accountable. In Punjab, Haryana and parts of Maharashtra, girls are more likely to be eliminated in foetal stage than any other forms of illness. Here risk of elimination is extraordinarily high.'' There is a silent national emergency. According to statistics, there are only 927 girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years in India.'' Speaking on the occasion, Dr Duru Shah from the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) said, ''There are black sheep in every profession. That does not mean everyone is bad. These black sheep are using the boons of science for wrong reasons. Sonography machine is a wonderful technology which can be used for many other things besides testing gender.'' Gargi Parsai, a journalist, noted, ''Two million foetuses are aborted every year because they are female. Mumbai has the largest number of ultrasound clinics. The fact that the sex ratio is falling indicates that they are being misused for sex selection purposes.

But the number of registered cases of misuse is dismally low.'' Mr George pointed out that women are surging ahead in every field. Women are the major/sole bread earners in 30 per cent households in Maharashtra and for every 1000 males, there are 1311 females engaged as agricultural workers, he said quoting statistics.

''In 2005, the pass percentage for girls in Class 10 of the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) board was 94.5 against 92.35 for boys, while in Class 12, it was 96.54 per cent for girls against 92.98 per cent for boys,'' he noted.

UNI