Role of Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal Against Femalefeticides in Maharashtra, India

Strong preference for sons over daughters exists in the Asian countries and Indian subcontinent.The female feticides over the last four- five decades have distorted sex ratios at birth in several Asian countries in general and in India particular. Foetal sex determination clinics have been established all over India in the last two decades.There are studies on the outcome of an intensive abuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques for sex selection in India. Parents tend to be calculative in choosing the sex of the next child and the decision is based on the birth order, sex sequence of previous children and number of sons. The misuse of medical technology in India is resulting in reinforcement of patriarchal values as professional medical organizations seem to be indifferent to ethical misconduct.

Indian medical researchers pioneered amniocentesis in 1975. Since then the contribution of sex determination tests (SDT) to the rising sex ratio has been vigorously debated. While urban feminists demanded legislation against SDT, some social scientists felt that SDT had little impact on sex ratio.

The paper presents the assertive action by ‘Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal’, a social organization which was established in 1990 in Maharshtra.  Female feticides done by medical fraternity have been exposed by this organization through sting operations carried out in Maharashtra and Gujarat state. The shocking facts found during the field work carried out by the author are also presented in the paper.