To bolster the laws preventing sex selection prior to conception and sex determination before birth, Health Ministry on Monday conducted a national sensitization meeting in Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan.
According to an official document, the discussions were focused on strengthening the effective implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994.
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The 1994 Act, amended in 2003, explicitly prohibits “any technique, including by selection of sperm or ovum, or embryo, before or after conception, for the purpose of selecting the sex of the child.”
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Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary & Mission Director (NHM), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during her keynote address stated that “the focus of the society or an individual should be having a healthy child rather than gender of the child.”
She further urged the stakeholders to focus on preventive aspect of the law instead of taking action against gender-biased sex selection.
Prior to the law, due to the rising availability of ultrasound facilities in late 80s and early 90s, a sharp decline was witnessed in India’s sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males), which fell from 962 in 1981 to 945 in 1991. This decline prompted the government to implement the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act in 1994.
Highlighting the impact of the Act, Patnaik stated that the country has recorded an improvement in the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB), increasing from 819 females per 1,000 males during 2016-18 to 917 females per 1,000 males in 2021-23, as per the Sample Registration System (SRS) Report 2023.
The meeting also focused on the apex court’s direction issued in 2008 that ordered the Union Government to ensure that search engines, websites, and online intermediaries do not carry ads or content related to sex determination.
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