SILENT GENOCIDE: THE IMPACT OF SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTIONS ON GENDER BALANCE

Preference for son and prenatal sex-selective abortion is gender-based violence. Sex selective foeticide is basically a consequence of sexist attitudes and institutions of Indian society. There is preference for male child by parents especially in north western states of Haryana and Punjab in India. These states that have experienced quite rapid economic development in recent decades show lowest sex ratio in India. Sons are considered to be security for old age. They are preferred because they are considered to have a higher wage-earning capacity (especially in agrarian economies) and they continue the family line. On the other hand, discrimination against girls in India is related to dowry and patriarchal family systems. For centuries, son preference has led to postnatal discrimination against girls. This discrimination against women has become so embedded in Indian society that some families would rather not have daughters at all. Persistent son preference and the spread of prenatal sex determination technology have led to the practice of prenatal sex selection thus making the juvenile sex ratios highly masculine. In spite of the fact that Government of India has banned these tests, there is a wide misuse of modern sex-selection tests today, spreading from large cities to smaller towns to villages, and from more affluent groups towards the lower strata of society. There is a nexus between Doctors, health workers and families who don't want daughters in this misdeed. Additionally, advocates of population control with cynical logic of ‘Fewer women = Lesser Procreation' have placed Indian women in the category of ‘endangered species'. An attempt has been made in this paper to focus on causes of declining sex ratio and its adverse social consequences.