Medicinal abortion is also widespread in India, and the drugs used–Mifepristone, Misoprostol and other prostaglandin medicines–are easily available over the counter. Indian magazines and television networks, meanwhile, regularly run advertisements for a variety of pills and methods for ending unwanted pregnancies.
‘I’m often surprised by the knowledge even village women have of these pills,’ Meena says. ‘They advise each other to take it with little correct information. I’ve seen women aborting seven and even eight month foetuses.’
The long-term impact of selective abortions on future demographics is hard to predict. But, the Lancet study warns India could be heading down the same road as China, where prenatal sex determination has meant about 40 million men are now unable to find spouses.
‘Evidence is already available that there are social adaptations made to cope with the skewed sex ratio in adult ages, especially in the adversely affected north western states,’ says U S Mishra, a population expert at the Centre for Development Studies. ‘People are marrying across regions despite linguistic barriers and in a few instances brothers share a wife.’
A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) study in 2007 said even if the sex ratio at birth were to remain at the ‘normal’ level of 950 girls per 1,000 boys until 2030, India is likely to have a female deficit of 25 million by 2030 in the marriageable age group of 20-49. More realistic studies that have factored in a limited and even further decline in the ratio have suggested the deficit could be anywhere between 29 and 34 million.
The potential consequences of such a development were laid bare in a 2005 headline-grabbing Indo-French production, ‘Matrubhoomi – A Nation Without Women.’ The film, selected by Time magazine as one of its 10 movies of the year, follows the story of a young woman married to five brothers.
Mishra says movies like these do help in raising awareness, a valuable soldier in this ongoing battle. But he also adds that societies are often better at coping with imbalances than they are given credit for.
‘There is much apprehension about the consequences of this imbalance. But societal innovations will always be found to cope with such behavioural aberrations–there’s no need for panic,’ Mishra says. ‘In fact, there even might be a positive within this. Regional imbalances may finally bridge inter-regional differences in cultural practices as people are forced to marry outside their caste, creed and languages.’
A report last year by the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau also struck a more upbeat chord, saying the crisis had stabilized and even improved in most states. In Haryana and Punjab, both of which have a particularly low sex ratio, concerted efforts at rebalancing appear to have had some effect–in Punjab, the sex ratio has improved from 775 in 1999-2001 to 808 in 2004-2006, while in Haryana, it rose from 803 to 837 over the same period.
The Laadli campaign has also set itself a tough task in an effort to help raise awareness–a one million signature campaign. Nearly 35,000 people have already signed up, and the governments of Delhi, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have co-opted the program into their government schemes.
But campaigners warn there is still little to celebrate. ‘In some regions where the sex ratio was abysmally low, there has been a slight correction. But more and more districts that had not displayed these tendencies earlier are now also showing a skewed sex ratio,’ Sharada says. ‘We need to builder stronger associations, to educate more people, to give the girl child a more expanded role in society. We have our work cut out for us.’
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