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Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Men's rights movement in India

The men's rights movement in India is composed of various independent men's rights organisations in India. Proponents of the movement support the introduction of gender-neutral legislation and repeal of laws that are biased against men.

Indian men's rights activists are organised around legal issues such as anti-dowry laws, divorce, and child custody, which are biased against men. They also assert that the frequency of domestic violence against men has increased over time with many cases going unreported as men are shamed into not reporting abuse or fear false accusations against them in reprisal. Some men's rights activists also consider India's rape reporting laws and sexual harassment laws in India to be biased against men.

History

1990s and early 2000s

The first men's rights organisations in India sprouted in the 1990s in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Lucknow, with the cities respectively being home to the groups Pirito Purush (The Persecuted Man), Purush Hakka Samrakshan Samiti (Committee for the Protection of Men's Rights), and Patni Atyachar Virodhi Morcha (Protesting Torture by Wives). These groups demanded rights for men, in particular husbands, and shared the view that they needed to undo some of the reforms achieved by feminists. The three groups were formed in response to alleged abuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code.

Subsequently, a helpline for battered men was started. "Save Indian Family" was founded on 9 March 2005 by the unification of a number of family's rights organisations across India. On 19 November 2007, the Save Indian Family Foundation celebrated International Men's Day for the first time in India.

2006–2010

In September 2008, SIFF filed a complaint against a Kitply plywood commercial to the Advertising Standards Council of India, for portraying a wife slapping her husband on her wedding day because of a creaking bed, alleging that the ad promoted domestic violence against men by portraying it as humorous. In the same month, Chennai-based organisation Indiya Kudumba Pathukappu Iyaakam, complained against a Pond's ad which labelled men as wife-beaters and an ICICI Prudential Insurance commercial which allegedly portrayed verbal and economical abuse against men.

The NGO 'Child's Right and Family Welfare' was formed in 2009 to demand fairer laws for men, including better child custody and access laws. In April 2010, when Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik was accused of adultery by a woman from Hyderabad, Ayesha Siddiqui, just prior to his marriage to tennis player Sania Mirza, SIFF released a statement in support of Malik demanding that his passport be returned. It added its concerns over such misuses of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. In 2009, the head of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Renuka Chowdhury, agreed to meet men's rights activists to listen to their concerns about biased legislation. On 25 June 2009, the activists were invited to discuss possible changes to these laws. However, the ministry changed the agenda of the meeting on 24 June, and ministry officials announced they were "unwilling to accept any flaws in current laws." This angered the activists and resulted in a large number of complaints to the Indian government. A week later, government officials indicated they would indeed review the current laws.

2010–2013

In September 2012, Ministry of Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath proposed a bill that would make it mandatory for husbands to pay a salary to their wives. This move was criticised by men's rights groups and they sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in the matter.

In late 2012, Satyamev Jayate, an Indian TV show hosted by actor Aamir Khan, was criticized by men's rights activists. According to Anil Kumar, co-founder of SIFF, Khan had portrayed men negatively on the show and had projected only one side of the domestic violence issue. In December 2012, about 15,000 men pledged to boycott Khan's film Talaash. Phanisai Bhardwaj, a Lok Satta Party candidate in Karnataka assembly polls, was found out to be a member of Centre for Men's Rights, against the Section 498a of IPC and reservations in jobs or education, after he made a post on Facebook in April 2013. He faced a protest campaign against him on the blogosphere, which called the Lok Satta Party 'anti-women' and 'casteist.' Jayprakash Narayan, founder of Lok Satta Party, called Bhardwaj's position on women "unacceptable, and he was subsequently asked to withdraw his nomination. In August that same year, Hridaya, a Kolkata-based NGO raised concerns about the proposed Marriage Laws (Amendment Bill), 2010 which has been approved by the cabinet and cleared by Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by defence minister A. K. Antony. According to Amartya Talukdar, the bill, which introduces the concept of no-fault divorce and marital property is not fair for men. It will put the institution of marriage in jeopardy.

On 21 December 2013, members of National Coalition for Men held a demonstration outside the offices of West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) in Kolkata, stating that former Supreme Court judge Asok Kumar Ganguly, and then chairman of WBHRC, was innocent until proven guilty. Ganguly had been accused of sexual harassment by a law intern. Amit Gupta, General Secretary of National Coalition for Men, said that even if the legal system of India and the UN Charter on Human Rights states that an accused is to be treated as innocent until proven guilty, Ganguly was being held as guilty and subjected to a media trial.

2014

On 16 February 2014, the members of Hridaya organised another protest against the Marriage Laws Amendment Bill (India) that would introduce no fault divorce in the Hindu Marriage Act by wearing saris. Amartya Talukdar voiced concern and said that if the government really intends to empower women, then the law should be made applicable to all communities by bringing uniform civil code instead of being applicable only to Hindus. In March 2014, men's rights activists also criticised the second season of Aamir Khan's TV show, Satyamev Jayate. SIFF said that the Aamir Khan quoted the domestic violence data from the National Family Health Survey, which surveyed only women from 15 to 49 age. They said the show gave the perception that men do not suffer from domestic violence.

In May 2014, Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) launched a mobile app called SIF One to reach out to men in distress. In the same month, an all India telephone helpline was launched.

Indian general election, 2014

During the pre-election campaign period for the 2014 Indian general election, on 11 January 2014, National Coalition for Men in Kolkata present their demand of the formation of a men's ministry and a men's rights panel to all political parties in India. They also released their own manifesto called "Men-ifesto" which dealt with the issues of men and the need of provisions from the government to address those issues. The other demands raised were gender neutral laws, rehabilitation of men who were acquitted, speedy trials of the accused languishing in custody, and equal rights in child custody. The National Coalition for Men met with political parties across India to urge them to include men's rights in their manifestos. Amit Gupta said that they may start their own political party if their demands are ignored. On 28 March 2014, Amit Gupta urged voters across the country to exercise the "None of the above" (NOTA) in the 2014 general elections. According to him, no political party was paying heed to their demands of gender neutral laws and a Ministry of Men's Welfare.

In early April 2014, Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) sent out four queries regarding men's issues to various political leaders. Anil Kumar of SIFF said that they would decide which party to vote for in the 2014 election based on the responses. He added that a survey of SIFF members had indicated a lack of support for the Congress party and the Communist Party of India. The four questions that were posed are whether the party would introduce a bill to protect men against domestic violence, whether biological fathers should be given partial custody in a shared parenting arrangement in divorces, whether consensual sex with the false promise of marriage should be considered rape and if a man should be considered a rapist for breaking up with his girlfriend, and whether the party would introduce men studies courses in universities similar to other gender studies courses.

On 16 April 2014, men's right groups asked supporters to vote for Samajwadi Party or use "None of the above" (NOTA). Amit Lakhani, an activist of Save Family Foundation based in New Delhi, expressed support for Samajwadi Party by saying that only that political party had included men's issues in their manifesto.

2015–present

In December 2015, the Mumbai-based Vaastav Foundation released a calendar called a "Malendar" marking male-oriented days such as Father's Day and International Men's Day. Amit Deshpande, the founder of Vaastav Foundation said that they were trying to raise awareness towards these days through positive images of men.

Mumbai Marathon

During the 2016 Mumbai Marathon, about 150 men from Vaastav Foundation participated dressed as ATMs. Deshpande commented, "A man is forced to be an ATM for his family and if he fails to protect his wife or provide for her, he is immediately accused of mistreating her." One of the placards visible during the event read "Until men learn to express their pain, every story will always portray women as victims." The participation with men dressed as ATM, the first of its kind, received coverage by the media worldwide.

Vaastav's participation in the 2017 Mumbai Marathon was grander with participation in larger numbers and with a big prop of a snake which they referred to it as the 'snake of misandry that gobbles up innocent men.' The larger-than-life snake had details about misused gender-discriminative criminal laws (namely anti-dowry laws, molestation, rape, section 377 of IPC and maintenance & alimony laws) on one side and the text of most concerning social & criminal issues faced by boys & men (viz. child-labor, boy's education, male suicides, domestic violence on men, male rape and patriarchal burdens of being default protectors & providers) on the other side. Now a new organization "Avijan Welfare And Charitable Trust" is working on men's rights in Kolkata. A magazine "Purush Kotha" is released on men's rights and problems faced by men.

While displaying banners with the text "Patriarchy Enslaves Men" and shouting slogans that meant "Would you marry? Would you go to prison?" the activists equated marriage with entrapment. Their participation was widely covered by regional & national print & electronic media.

In 2016, a documentary film called 'Martyrs of Marriage' was released by Mumbai-based filmmaker and activist Deepika Narayan Bharadwaj. The film, which features real-life stories of men suffering from abuse due to anti-dowry laws, including those that have committed suicide.

Issues

Anti-dowry laws

The Laws

The men's rights activists claims that the anti-dowry laws are being frequently misused to harass and extort husbands. The high rate of suicide among married men in India is also attributed to harassment under these laws by the activists. The practice of giving dowry was first criminalised in 1961 under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and later the Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code was introduced in 1983. The Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code which deals with cruelty to a wife states that:

Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.

For the purposes of this section, "cruelty" means:
(a) any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or

(b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.

The Section 113b of the Indian Evidence Act, 1879 says that if a married woman committed suicide within seven years of marriage, it must be assumed by the court that her husband and his family abetted the suicide, especially if there was evidence of prior dowry demands.

Until July 2014, the Section 498a of the Indian Penal Code allowed the police to arrest the persons mentioned in the complaint without a warrant or without any investigation. The crime was non-bailable, so chances of getting a bail are low and husbands usually lost their jobs while in custody. On 2 July 2014, the Supreme Court of India in an order stopped automatic arrests under the Section 498a. The Court directed the police to use the Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which contains a checklist, to decide whether an arrest is necessary. The Court also stated that in all arrests the magistrate must examine whether further detention was necessary. There is also no provision of withdrawing a complaint in case of a reconciliation. However, an amendment to rectify this has been proposed.

Of all arrests made the Indian Penal Code, 6% are made under the Section 498a. Of all crimes reported under the Indian Penal Code, 4.5% are filed under Section 498a, which is the highest barring theft and hurt. Of the cases that go to trial, only 15% result in conviction. In July 2014, 3,72,706 cases under Section 498a were pending in Indian courts.

Criticism of the laws

According to SIFF, these laws don't follow conventional legal premises where a person is innocent until proven guilty. It has also pointed out that several of those who are arrested under this law are women themselves, i.e., female relatives of husbands. Swarup Sarkar, a spokesperson of SIFF, has said that men with low incomes are rarely targeted and most victims of misuse are well-off. He has claimed that these laws assume that women are always truthful, and don't place much importance on evidence. An Indian court has termed misuse of these laws, legal terrorism.[

Almost a quarter of people arrested under Section 498a are women, mostly mothers and sisters of the accused husband. In 2012, 47,951 women were arrested under this law. According to Ram Prakash Chugh, a large majority of the women in Tihar jail are there due to dowry charges. He has claimed that sometimes mothers of the bride bring dowry charges on their in-laws when the bride fails to adjust to her in-laws. Organisations like All India Mother-in-Law Protection Forum (AIMPF) and Mothers And Sisters of Husbands Against Abuse of Law (MASHAAL) have been formed to represent such women. Some non-resident Indians (NRI) groups have also demanded amendments to the anti-dowry law. Anindya Chatterjee, a California-based IT worker who runs an online support group, was accused under the law. He has said that sometimes while visiting India, men are accused under the law and get arrested by police without verifying if the case is genuine and their passports are seized. The cases often take a year to clear up, as a result the men lose their jobs abroad due to frequent travels to attend the court or being unable to leave India. Canada and United States have issued travel advisories warning of India's anti-dowry law misuses in the past.

Jyotsna Chatterjee, member of the Joint Women's Programme which was involved in drafting the Domestic Violence Act 2005, has responded to these criticism of the anti-dowry law, by stating that compared to the men who have faced the misuse of the anti-dowry law, many more women have suffered from dowry demands. She has said that there has been no change in the way society sees women and they are still treated as second-class citizens. Indira Jaising has also rejected the view that anti-dowry law and domestic violence laws are being misused. She has also claimed that the high acquittal under dowry cases occurs because prosecutions are conducted improperly and people are encouraged to settle out of court. Indrani Sinha of Sanlaap has said that the anti-dowry cannot be easily misused. She said that if the husband and his family are innocent then they should go to the police before the wife and file a complaint.

Notable verdicts and legal panel reports

  • In November 2003, the Committee on Reforms in the Criminal Justice System (CRCJS), headed by V. S. Malimath, recommended that Section 498a be made bailable and compoundable.
  • In July 2005, the Supreme Court admitted that in many instances complaints under the Section 498a of the Indian Penal Code are not bona fide and have oblique motives. The court added that acquittal in such cases doesn't erase the suffering the defendant has to go through, which is compounded by adverse media coverage. The court also directed the legislature to find ways to check such false cases.
  • In August 2010, the Supreme Court directed the government to amend Section 498a of the Indian Penal Code in view of the rising numbers of false or exaggerated complaints against husbands and their relatives by women. It further added that such complaints result in the husband and his relatives remaining in custody until trial or bail, which kills all chances of an amicable settlement.
  • In January 2012, the Law Commission of India recommended that Section 498a should be made a compoundable offense. But, the court will decide if the particular case is compoundable or not.

On 2 July 2014, the Supreme Court said that this law is being used by some women to harass their husband and in-laws. Through Arnesh Kumar Guidelines the court prohibited the police from making arrests on the mere basis of a complaint. The court asked the police to follow Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which provides a 9-point checklist which must be used to decide the need for an arrest. The court also said that a magistrate must decide whether an arrested accused is needed to be kept under further detention. The decision was in response to a Special Leave Petition (SPL) filed by one Arnesh Kumar challenging his arrest and of his family under this law. The decision was welcomed by men's right activists but was criticised by women rights activists. However, due to lack of communication to police stations, the guidelines of Supreme Court of India are still not being followed.

Ranjana Kumari of the Centre for Social Research has criticised the Supreme Court's judgement which said that anti-dowry laws are being misused and stopped arrests based on FIRs. She said that if laws are being misused then the law enforcement should be held responsible. Recently. the Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a Public Interest Litigation to set up a National Commission for Men in the light of rising suicide by married men in India whose years are lost in fighting false cases.

Proposed amendments

In 2014, the National Commission for Women proposed some changes to the law which included widening the definition of the term dowry and increasing the penalty for false cases. But, the suggestions were rejected by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Minister for Women, Maneka Gandhi, told the Lok Sabha in December, "The NCW had recommended certain amendments in Dowry Prohibition Act. However, the ministry has taken a considered view on the matter and decided to drop the amendment proposed by NCW in the present form after taking into account the comments of the high level committee on the status of women and the ministry of home affairs." Ranjana Kumari of Centre for Social Research welcomed this decision to not dilute the law.

In March 2015, it was reported that Government of India was planning to amend Section 498A. It would be made compoundable, which would allow the parties to settle if the court recommended it. The fine for filing a false case would be increased from 1,000 to 15,000. Amit Gupta, of National Coalition for Men, has opposed making the law compoundable. He has said that it would make extortion easier. He has pointed out that after Andhra Pradesh made it compoundable, the number of case rose by 150% and conviction rate fell by 400%. Maneka Gandhi, the Minister for Women & Child Development, has also opposed any changes to the existing dowry laws. Ranjana Kumari of the Centre for Social Research has also expressed disagreement over demands to amend the anti-dowry law, pointing out that dowry deaths are still occurring in India.

Divorce and child custody laws

The men's rights activists in India claim that the divorce and child custody laws are biased against men. They say that this allows divorced wives to stop men from seeing their children for long periods of time. They have said that alimony should not be granted if the wife is the primary earner of the family and the law should see men capable of bringing up children.

In India, child custody is granted to the father only if the mother is mentally unstable or has left home leaving behind the child. At present, the matter custody in case of divorce is governed by two laws: Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 and Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956. But, both laws do not have any provisions for shared parenting or joint custody. Under the Evidence Act, 1872, if a child is born within a marriage or within 280 days of dissolution of a marriage, then the child is considered legitimate and is entitled to child support and inheritance. At present, DNA paternity tests do not take precedence over this law. The courts may still choose to ignore the genetic evidence and ask a non-biological parent to pay for child support. An organisation named Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) has demanded better child access laws and has called the current custodial laws gender-biased. It has demanded amendments to the Guardians and Wards Act be amended to make shared parenting mandatory.

Swarup Sarkar of Save Family Foundation has speculated that now two out of three Indian couples actively share parenting. Kumar Jahagirdar, president of CRISP, has noted a growth in men who are the primary caregivers in the family.

Notable verdicts

In April 2003, the Supreme Court of India granted a woman divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty. She had claimed that her husband was harassing her and accusing her of affairs. Although four or five out of ten divorce cases in India allege mental agony, Ram Prakash Chugh said that if a man brought similar charges to a court, he will be unlikely to get a favourable ruling.

In September 2008, the Delhi High Court in a verdict said that a woman earning sufficient income is not entitled to maintenance from her divorced husband. The verdict came after a man challenged a family court's decision to grant 7,500 monthly alimony to his wife. The man had pointed out that his wife was earning 80,000 for month and had no other responsibilities. In September 2010, the Delhi High Court released a verdict that a man cannot be forced to pay alimony if he is unemployed. The man had challenged a lower court's order that he should pay 5,000 as alimony. The man pointed out that he was an expatiate working as a sales manager in Angola and had come to India to marry. He got married in May 2007 but the marriage lasted only three weeks. Due to his wife's complaint, the police seized his passport and he was unable to return to job, which resulted in his termination. The court stated that wife was equally qualified to her husband, and was working in a multi-national company, thus she cannot claim alimony.

In September 2010, the Delhi High Court said that a man's assets should be examined while deciding the alimony sum. The court was deciding a case where man initially asked to pay 15,000 in total as alimony per month by a lower. After an appeal from his wife, he was asked to pay 45,000 by another court which took into consideration his net assets. The man had challenged this decision by pointing out his monthly salary was 41,000. The court reduced the alimony sum to 20,000 per month and stated that a man's parents and sibling also have a stake in his assets. In October 2010, Supreme Court of India passed a judgment according to which long-term live-in relationships will be considered as marriage. The female spouse then can claim alimony under the Domestic Violence Act 2005 which uses the phrase "relationship in the nature of marriage." The court was adjudicating a case where a man, who was already married, was being sue by another woman.

In June 2012, Delhi High Court said that a woman who is educated and capable of maintaining herself, but has quit her job voluntarily is not entitle to alimony. The verdict was given in case where a woman challenged a lower court's decision to not grant her any alimony. The High Court pointed out that the woman was capable of earning 50,000 per month but was choosing to remain unemployed, and denied any alimony to her. However, the court ordered the husband to pay 10,000 towards child support. On 12 September 2013, the Karnataka High Court granted equal custody of a 12-year-old boy to both parents. The court ordered that the boy to remain with his mother from 1 July to 31 December of every year and to remain with his father from 1 January to 30 June, until the child reaches the age of maturity. Both the parents were also given visitations rights on Saturday and Sunday, when the child would be with the other parent. The child was also allowed to call or video chat with the other parent when in custody of one. The court also ordered both parents to bear the child's education and other expenses equally.

Proposed laws

Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010

In 2010, a proposed amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act would allow courts to decide compensation to wife and children from the husband's inherited and inheritable property. The bill has provisions for "irretrievable breakdown" of marriage where both parties must have lived apart for three years before filing for divorce. The bill would also allow the wife to oppose the dissolution of a marriage if it would leave her in financial hardship.

The SIFF protested against the 2010 amendment. According to Rajesh Vakharia, president of SIFF, this bill would encourage divorce and be costly to husbands, as they would have to part with their assets. He called the bill a regressive move, and stated that it jeopardizes the financial and social security of a man. He has pointed out that as most men marry after becoming financially secure, the possibility of losing their wealth and property would discourage men from marriage and feed the gynophobia in the society.

Kumar V. Jaghirdar, founder and president of the Bangalore-based Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP), said that alimony should be decided on the basis of how many years the couple were married, and argued that the law doesn't allow a husband to refute his wife's claims. He also argued that it is based on a flawed assumption that the children are always best cared for by their mother, and that it violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, right to equality. Swarup Sarkar, founder and member of Save Family Foundation, said that the suggestions offered by them to the Law Minister and the parliamentary committee were ignored.

Derek O'Brien, member of the All India Trinamool Congress political party, argued that this law empowers women at the expense of men. He proposed that this law should be made gender neutral by using the word "spouse" instead of "wife" or "husband." Arvind Kumar Singh of Samajwadi Party said that the law has potential for misuse like the anti-dowry laws and added that it treats men as being responsible for divorces. Vandana Chavan of Nationalist Congress Party has pointed out that the bill was unfair as nowadays, many women earn equal to or more than their husbands. Additionally, Amartya Talukdar raised concern that the bill amends marriage laws for Hindus only, who made up 79 percent of India's population in 2011. Talukdar stated, "If the Government really wants to bring about empowerment of women, let them make it open for all sections of the society. Let them bring a uniform civil code. Why is it only for the Hindus?" The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2013. On 18 December 2014, Law Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda in answer to a question told the parliament that the government has received complaints from men's rights group that the law will reduce the marriage rate in the country.

As of February 2015, the Bill has not been passed in the Lok Sabha.

Consultation Paper on Shared Parentage

In November 2014, the Law Commission of India started a study and released a consultation paper on its website seeking views from the public on proposed guidelines for joint custody and shared parenting. The commission expects to complete the study by January 2015 and present the findings to the government for amendments to the law by the 2015 budget session of the Parliament.

Flavia Agnes, an attorney and women's rights activist, opposed the shared parenthood law consultation paper floated by the Law Commission of India by claiming that it was being lobbied by men's rights organisations and that it would erode women and children's rights.

Domestic violence

According to men's rights activists, the incidence of domestic violence against men in recent years has increased. The activists say that many cases go unreported as men feel too ashamed to report abuse, or fear false accusations against them in reprisal. Two groups, the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) and the Indian Social Awareness and Activism Forum (INSAAF), have demanded inclusion of men's issues in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to allow a better picture of the situation to emerge.

Swarup Sarkar, founder of SIFF, has said that there is no legal provision for married men facing verbal or mental abuse. Indian Social Awareness and Activism Forum (INSAAF), and Confidare Research have drafted a bill which aims to protect men and boys from domestic violence from their spouses, girlfriends and parents. The draft is called the Saving Men from Intimate Terror Act (SMITA) and the groups aim to introduce it for debate in the parliament. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 identifies domestic violence as abuse or threat of abuse, whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic. It provides protection to wives and female live-in partners from domestic violence carried out by husbands, male live-in partners or their relatives. Swarup Sarkar of Save Indian Family has argued that Domestic Violence Act should be made gender neutral. He has also termed the law as legal terrorism.

Indira Jaising has argued that men don't need to be covered under the domestic violence act as they have several other rights to appeal with, but women need special rights to defend their lives in a male-dominated society. The Jabalpur, Amarkantak and Hoshangabad region of Madhya Pradesh reports a large number of sadhus who have left their marriages to become holy men or yogis. According to family counseling centres in Jabalpur, the share of harassed husbands was 70 percent among complainants as per data recorded between 2013 and 2014. About 4,500 husbands are missing from family court records in the region. A local stops the police from going after men who have left marriage and become sadhus.

More recently during the lockdown in India amid COVID-19, domestic violence against men has increased tremendously. As many as 1,774 men from 22 states across India reached out to the Save Indian Family (SIF) foundation in April 2020, alleging domestic violence by their spouse. Besides several incidences of groom burning have also been reported during lockdown across different parts of India.

Rape reporting laws

Between 2001 and 2012, the number of reported rape cases rose from 16,075 to 24,923, however the conviction rate fell from 40.8 percent to 24.2 percent Some men's rights activists point to the low conviction rates and claim that the lack of a penalty for falsely reporting rape has encouraged false cases. However, compared with other countries like Sweden, UK and France, India has a much higher conviction rate.

Suicide

Marital Status of Suicide Victims in 2018
Marital status Male Female Transgender
Unmarried 19987 10512 4
Married 64791 27742 0
Widowed/Widower 1257 1072 0
Divorced 520 423 0
Separated 559 288 2
Others 1792 884 4
Status not known 3208 1470 1
Total 92114 42391 11

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report in 2018, about 70% of all suicide victims were men, the same as the suicide demographics for married victims. Kumar V. Jahgirdar, president of Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP), has attributed the suicides among married men on family stress.

Mithun Kumar, a researcher at SIFF, has said that police don't take any action even if the suicide note of a man states that he was tortured by his wife and in-laws, but in case of a woman's suicide her husband's family is taken into custody without investigation. However, in a 2012 report published by the Million Death Study researchers, it was stated that since attempting suicide in India was a crime until 2014, suicides are under-reported, especially suicides of young married women. Because in case of the suicide of a married women, usually the husband and his family are held responsible if the suicide has occurs within seven years of marriage. Sometimes suicides are mis-categorised as accident deaths.

Sexual harassment laws

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is not gender neutral and applies to the protection of women only. Rajesh Vakahria, a member of SIFF, has pointed out the bill was originally gender neutral until Ministry of Women and Child Development and some NGOs intervened and changed the name. He said that it was an outdated concept to consider that only women suffer from sexual harassment.

Khasi tribe

The Khasi tribe in Meghalaya state is matrilineal. The children take the mother's surname, the sons have no rights to property, and a family without an heir usually adopts a girl. After marriage, a man moves into his wife's house. Their way of life is protected under the Khasi Social Custom of Lineage Act of 1997. In 1990, the men in this tribe started a men's liberation movement called Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (Home Hearth Restructured). A previous movement started in the early 1960s died out due to lack of support. The current movement claims to have 2,000 members. According to them, due to a lack of responsibility or sense of purpose, boys are dropping out of schools, men are resorting to drugs and alcohol and dying before reaching middle age. The movement seeks, among other things, to have children take their fathers' names and to end the system of property inheritance that favours female offspring.

Female foeticide in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_foeticide_in_India

Female foeticide in India
(Hindi: भ्रूण हत्या, romanizedbhrūṇ-hatyā, lit.'foeticide') is the abortion of a female foetus outside of legal methods. A research by Pew Research Center based on Union government data indicates foeticide of at least 9 million females in the years 2000–2019. The research found that 86.7% of these foeticides were by Hindus (80% of the population), followed by Sikhs (1.7% of the population) with 4.9%, and Muslims (14% of the population) with 6.6%. The research also indicated an overall decline in preference for sons in the time period.

The natural sex ratio is assumed to be between 103 and 107 males per 100 females, and any number above it is considered suggestive of female foeticide. According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in 0 to 6 age group in India has risen from 102.4 males per 100 females in 1961, to 104.2 in 1980, to 107.5 in 2001, to 108.9 in 2011.

The child sex ratio is within the normal range in all eastern and southern states of India, but significantly higher in certain western and particularly northwestern states such as Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir (118, 120 and 116, as of 2011, respectively). The western states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan 2011 census found a child sex ratio of 113, Gujarat at 112 and Uttar Pradesh at 111.

The Indian census data indicates that the sex ratio is poor when women have one or two children, but gets better as they have more children, which is result of sex-selective "stopping practices" (stopping having children based on sex of those born). The Indian census data also suggests there is a positive correlation between abnormal sex ratio and better socio-economic status and literacy. This may be connected to the dowry system in India where dowry deaths occur when a girl is seen as a financial burden. Urban India has higher child sex ratio than rural India according to 1991, 2001 and 2011 Census data, implying higher prevalence of female foeticide in urban India. Similarly, child sex ratio greater than 115 boys per 100 girls is found in regions where the predominant majority is Hindu; furthermore "normal" child sex ratio of 104 to 106 boys per 100 girls are found in regions where the predominant majority is Muslim, Sikh or Christian. These data suggest that sex selection is a practice which takes place among some educated, rich sections or a particular religion of the Indian society.

There is an ongoing debate as to whether these high sex ratios are only caused by female foeticide or some of the higher ratio is explained by natural causes. The Indian government has passed Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT) in 1994 to ban and punish prenatal sex screening and female foeticide. It is currently illegal in India to determine or disclose sex of the foetus to anyone. However, there are concerns that PCPNDT Act has been poorly enforced by authorities.

High sex ratio implication

One school of scholars suggest that any birth sex ratio of boys to girls that is outside of the normal 105–107 range, necessarily implies sex-selective abortion. These scholars claim that both the sex ratio at birth and the population sex ratio are remarkably constant in human populations. Significant deviations in birth sex ratios from the normal range can only be explained by manipulation, that is sex-selective abortion. In a widely cited article, Amartya Sen compared the birth sex ratio in Europe (106) and United States (105+) with those in Asia (107+) and argued that the high sex ratios in East Asia, West Asia and South Asia may be due to excessive female mortality. Sen pointed to research that had shown that if men and women receive similar nutritional and medical attention and good health care then females have better survival rates, and it is the male which is the genetically fragile sex. Sen estimated 'missing women' from extra women who would have survived in Asia if it had the same ratio of women to men as Europe and United States. According to Sen, the high birth sex ratio over decades, implies a female shortfall of 11% in Asia, or over 100 million women as missing from the 3 billion combined population of India, other South Asian countries, West Asia, North Africa and China.

Origin

Male to female sex ratio for India, based on its official census data, from 1941 through 2011. The data suggests the existence of high sex ratios before and after the arrival of ultrasound-based prenatal care and sex screening technologies in India.

Female foeticide has been linked to the arrival, in the early 1990s, of affordable ultrasound technology and its widespread adoption in India. Obstetric ultrasonography, either transvaginally or transabdominally, checks for various markers of fetal sex. It can be performed at or after week 12 of pregnancy. At this point, 34 of fetal sexes can be correctly determined, according to a 2001 study. Accuracy for males is approximately 50% and for females almost 100%. When performed after week 13 of pregnancy, ultrasonography gives an accurate result in almost 100% of cases.

Availability

Ultrasound technology arrived in China and India in 1979, but its expansion was slower in India. Ultrasound sex discernment technologies were first introduced in major cities of India in 1980s, its use expanded in India's urban regions in 1990s, and became widespread in 2000s.

Magnitude estimates for female foeticide

Estimates for female foeticide vary by scholar. One group estimates more than 10 million female fetuses may have been illegally aborted in India since 1990s, and 500,000 girls were being lost annually due to female foeticide. MacPherson estimates that 100,000 abortions every year continue to be performed in India solely because the fetus is female.

Reasons for female foeticide

Various theories have been proposed as possible reasons for sex-selective abortion. Culture is favored by some researchers, while some favor disparate gender-biased access to resources. Some demographers question whether sex-selective abortion or infanticide claims are accurate, because underreporting of female births may also explain high sex ratios. Natural reasons may also explain some of the abnormal sex ratios. Klasen and Wink suggest India and China's high sex ratios are primarily the result of sex-selective abortion.

Cultural preference

One school of scholars suggested that female foeticide can be seen through history and cultural background. Generally, male babies were preferred because they provided manual labor and success the family lineage. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common in areas where cultural norms value male children over female children for a variety of social and economic reasons. A son is often preferred as an "asset" since he can earn and support the family; a daughter is a "liability" since she will be married off to another family, and so will not contribute financially to her parents. Female foeticide then, is a continuation in a different form, of a practice of female infanticide or withholding of postnatal health care for girls in certain households. Furthermore, in some cultures sons are expected to take care of their parents in their old age. These factors are complicated by the effect of diseases on child sex ratio, where communicable and noncommunicable diseases affect males and females differently.

Disparate gendered access to resource

Some of the variation in birth sex ratios and implied female foeticide may be due to disparate access to resources. As MacPherson (2007) notes, there can be significant differences in gender violence and access to food, healthcare, immunizations between male and female children. This leads to high infant and childhood mortality among girls, which causes changes in sex ratio.

Disparate, gendered access to resources appears to be strongly linked to socioeconomic status. Specifically, poorer families are sometimes forced to ration food, with daughters typically receiving less priority than sons (Klasen and Wink 2003). However, Klasen's 2001 study revealed that this practice is less common in the poorest families, but rises dramatically in the slightly less poor families. Klasen and Wink's 2003 study suggests that this is “related to greater female economic independence and fewer cultural strictures among the poorest sections of the population.” In other words, the poorest families are typically less bound by cultural expectations and norms, and women tend to have more freedom to become family breadwinners out of necessity.

Lopez and Ruzikah (1983) found that, when given the same resources, women tend to outlive men at all stages of life after infancy. However, globally, resources are not always allocated equitably. Thus, some scholars argue that disparities in access to resources such as healthcare, education, and nutrition play at least a small role in the high sex ratios seen in some parts of the world.

Public goods provisions by female leaders (majority vs. minority spillover goods)

Minority goods provided by female leaders in India help to alleviate some of the problems of disparate gendered access to resources for women. Public goods are defined as non-excludable and non-rival, but India lacks a system of public goods and has many problems with access to clean water or roads. Additionally, many of the "public goods" exclude females because families choose to prioritize their male children's access to those resources. In India, previous research has found that women leaders invest in public goods that are more in line with female preferences, in particular water infrastructure, which leads to a reduction in time spent on domestic chores by adolescent girls. This in turn results in more time for young girls to gain an education and increases their value to their families and to society so that they are more likely to give them access to resources in the future. Minority groups, like women, are likely to provide minority or low spillover goods such as transfers, rations, and water connections, which only benefit other women. The majority of men do not find any benefit from these goods and are less likely to invest in them. For example, in a study conducted by political scientists Chattopadhyay and Duflo, results show that in West Bengal women complain more about water and roads and the women politicians invest more in those issues. In Rajasthan, where women complain more often about drinking water, women politicians invest more in water and less in roads.

Dowry system

Even though the dowry system legally ended with the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, the impossibility of monitoring families and the prevalence of corruption have led to its continuance all over India. A dowry is a payment from the bride's family to the groom's family at the time of marriage. It is often found in "socially stratified, monogamous societies that are economically complex and where women have a relatively small productive role". Theoretically, marriage results in partners choosing the mate who best maximizes their utility and there is equal distribution of returns to both participants. The outcome is pareto optimal and reaches equilibrium when no one can be better off with any other partner or choosing not to marry. However, if both partners do not share an equal distribution of the returns then there must be a transfer of funds between them in order to reach efficiency. In Indian society, the rise of economic growth has allowed men to work in "productive" jobs and gain an income, but many women are not afforded these opportunities. Therefore, women and their families have to compete for men and pay a dowry as a transaction payment to make up for the lack of productive inputs they bring into a marriage. Dowries have been rising in India for the last six decades and increased 15 percent annually between 1921 and 1981. Women are valued less in this partnership and therefore are asked to pay in order to gain the benefits a man brings. The power hierarchy and financial obligation created through this system help perpetuate acts like female foeticide and a high son preference. Additionally, the technological progress leading to sex selective abortions lowers the cost of discrimination and many people think that it is better to pay a "500 rupees now (abortion) instead of 50,000 rupees in the future (dowry)."

Furthermore, dowry-related expenses also extend well beyond marriage. The bride's family is expected to bear the burden of high expenses for the groom.

India's weak social security system

Another reason for this male preference is based on the economic benefits of having a son and the costs of having a daughter. In India, there is a very limited social security system so parents look to their sons to ensure their futures and care for them in old age. Daughters are liabilities because they have to leave to another family once they are married and cannot take care of their parents. Additionally, they do not contribute economically to the family wealth and are costly because of the dowry system. People in India usually see men's work as "productive" and contributing the family, while the social perception of female labor does not have that connotation. This also ties to the fact that it is easier for men in India to get high paying jobs and provide financially for their families. Women need increased access to education and economic resources in order to reach that level of gainful employment and change people's perceptions of daughters being financial liabilities. With this cost and benefit analysis, many families come to the conclusion that they must prioritize male children's lives over female lives in order to ensure their financial future.

The traditional social security system in India is family centered, with the joint family of three generations living together and taking care of each other.

Consequences of a declining sex ratio in Indian states

2011 Census sex ratio map for the states and Union Territories of India, boys per 100 girls in 0 to 1 age group
This table gives information on the child sex ratio in major states in India throughout the years 1981, 1991, and 2001.

The following table presents the child sex ratio data for India's states and union territories, according to 2011 Census of India for population count in the 0–1 age group. The data suggests 18 states/UT had birth sex ratio higher than 107 implying excess males at birth and/or excess female mortalities after birth but before she reaches the age of 1, 13 states/UT had normal child sex ratios in the 0–1 age group, and 4 states/UT had birth sex ratio less than 103 implying excess females at birth and/or excess male mortalities after birth but before he reaches the age of 1.

State / UT Boys (0–1 age)
2011 Census
Girls (0–1 age)
2011 Census
Sex ratio
(Boys per
100 girls)
India 10,633,298 9,677,936 109.9
Jammu and Kashmir 154,761 120,551 128.4
Haryana 254,326 212,408 119.7
Punjab 226,929 193,021 117.6
Uttarakhand 92,117 80,649 114.2
DELHI 135,801 118,896 114.2
Maharashtra 946,095 829,465 114.1
Lakashadweep 593 522 114.0
Rajasthan 722,108 635,198 113.7
Gujarat 510,124 450,743 113.2
Uttar Pradesh 1,844,947 1,655,612 111.4
Chandigarh 8,283 7,449 111.2
Daman and Diu 1,675 1,508 111.1
Bihar 1,057,050 957,907 110.3
Himchal Pradesh 53,261 48,574 109.6
Madhya Pradesh 733,148 677,139 108.3
Goa 9,868 9,171 107.6
Jharkhand 323,923 301,266 107.5
Manipur 22,852 21,326 107.2
Andhra Pradesh 626,538 588,309 106.5
Tamil Nadu 518,251 486,720 106.5
Odisha 345,960 324,949 106.5
Dadra and Nagar Haveli 3,181 3,013 105.6
Karnataka 478,346 455,299 105.1
West Bengal 658,033 624,760 105.0
Assam 280,888 267,962 104.8
Nagaland 17,103 16,361 104.5
Sikkim 3,905 3,744 104.3
Chhattisgarh 253,745 244,497 103.8
Tripura 28,650 27,625 103.7
Meghalaya 41,353 39,940 103.5
Arunachal Pradesh 11,799 11,430 103.2
Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2,727 2,651 102.9
Kerala 243,852 238,489 102.2
Puducherry 9,089 8,900 102.1
Mizoram 12,017 11,882 101.1

Marriage market and importation of brides

This graph shows the marriage market for women in India and how the lack of females due to female foeticide results in a lower supply of women. The gap is bridged by men kidnapping or importing wives from other regions.

Classic economic theory views the market for marriage as one in which people bargain for a spouse who maximizes their utility gains from marriage. In India, many of these bargains actually take place within the family and therefore individual utility is replaced by family utility. In this marriage market, men and their families are trying to maximize their utility, which creates a supply and demand for wives. However, female foeticide and a high sex ratio have high implications for this market. Dharma Kumar, argues that, "Sex selection at conception will reduce the supply of women, they will become more valuable, and female children will be better cared for and will live longer". In the graph, this is depicted by the leftward shift of the supply curve and the subsequent decrease in quantity of females from Q1 to Q2 and increase in their value from P1 to P2. However, this model does not work for the situation in India because it does not account for the common act of males importing brides from other regions. A low supply of women results in men and their families trafficking women from other areas and leads to increased sexual violence and abuse against women and children, increased child marriages, and increased maternal deaths due to forced abortions and early marriages. This ends up devaluing women instead of the presumed effect of increasing their value.

In the graph, the supply of brides outside each village, locality, or region is depicted as 'supply foreign'. This foreign supply values the price of getting a wife at much cheaper than the first domestic price P1 and the second domestic price P2. Therefore, due to the decrease of women domestically due to sex selection and the low price of foreign women (because they are often bought as slaves or kidnapped), the resulting gap of imported women is from Q3 to Q4. Women act like imports in an international trade market if the import price is lower than the high price of domestic dowries with a low supply of women. The foreign price is lower than the market price and this results in even fewer domestic brides than without importation (Q3 instead of Q2). In turn, this creates a self-fulfilling cycle of limiting females domestically and continually importing them and there is no end to the cycle of female feticide if these acts can continue and importation is an option.

The imported brides are known as "paros" and are treated very badly because they have no cultural, regional, or familial ties to their husbands before being brought into their homes. One of the field studies in Haryana revealed that more than 9000 married women are bought from other Indian states as imported brides. This act also results in wife sharing and polyandry by family members in some areas of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Punjab, which maintains the gender imbalance if one family can make do with only one female. For example, the polyandrous Toda of Nilgiri Hills in southern India practiced female infanticide in order to maintain a certain demographic imbalance.

Negative spillovers of prenatal sex selection and female foeticide

When families choose to partake in prenatal sex selection through illegal ultrasounds or abortions, they impart a negative spillover on society. These include increased gender disparity, a high sex ratio, lives lost, lack of development, and abuse and violence against women and children. Families do not often keep this spillover in mind and this results in sex selection and female foeticide, which hurts society as a whole.

Empirical study on male/female child mortality

A study by Satish B. Agnihotri infers the gender bias in India by studying the relationship between male and female infant and child mortality rates in the face of mortality as a whole looking like it is decreasing. Hypothetically, if males and females are identical, then there should be no difference in mortality rates and no gender gap. However, male and female children are perceived as psychologically and socially different so the equation relating mortality looks like this: MRf = a + b*MRm. MRf is female child mortality, a is residual female mortality when male mortality is 0, the slope b shows the rate of decline in female mortality for a decline in male mortality, and MRm is male mortality. In India, the infant mortality equation for 1982–1997 was IMRf = 6.5 + 0.93* IMRm, which shows that there is a high level of residual female mortality and male mortality declines slightly faster than female mortality. The author then breaks down the information by states and rural or urban population. Many states, like Haryana, that are known for high levels of female mortality have slopes greater than 1, which seems counterintuitive. However, this actually goes to show that prenatal selection may reduce the extent of infanticide or poor treatment of girls who are born. It has a substitution effect on the post-natal discrimination and replaces its effects instead of adding to it. Additionally, urban households usually have a high constant term and a low slope. This shows that simply reducing mortality may not result in a subsequent reduction of female mortality. This research goes to show the extent of gender discrimination in India and how this affects the high sex ratio. It is important to not only target mortality, but specifically female mortality if there is to be any change in gender disparities.

Laws and regulations

A sign in an Indian hospital stating that prenatal sex determination is a crime.

India passed its first abortion-related law, the so-called Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, making abortion legal in most states, but specified legally acceptable reasons for abortion such as medical risk to mother and rape. The law also established physicians who can legally provide the procedure and the facilities where abortions can be performed, but did not anticipate female foeticide based on technology advances. With increasing availability of sex screening technologies in India through the 1980s in urban India, and claims of its misuse, the Government of India passed the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in 1994. This law was further amended into the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PCPNDT) Act in 2004 to deter and punish prenatal sex screening and female foeticide. However, there are concerns that PCPNDT Act has been poorly enforced by authorities.

The impact of Indian laws on female foeticide and its enforcement is unclear. United Nations Population Fund and India's National Human Rights Commission, in 2009, asked the Government of India to assess the impact of the law. The Public Health Foundation of India, an premier research organization in its 2010 report, claimed a lack of awareness about the Act in parts of India, inactive role of the Appropriate Authorities, ambiguity among some clinics that offer prenatal care services, and the role of a few medical practitioners in disregarding the law. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India has targeted education and media advertisements to reach clinics and medical professionals to increase awareness. The Indian Medical Association has undertaken efforts to prevent prenatal sex selection by giving its members Beti Bachao (save the daughter) badges during its meetings and conferences. However, a recent study by Nandi and Deolalikar (2013) argues that the 1994 PNDT Act may have had a small impact by preventing 106,000 female foeticides over one decade.

According to a 2007 study by MacPherson, prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT Act) was highly publicized by NGOs and the government. Many of the ads used depicted abortion as violent, creating fear of abortion itself within the population. The ads focused on the religious and moral shame associated with abortion. MacPherson claims this media campaign was not effective because some perceived this as an attack on their character, leading to many becoming closed off, rather than opening a dialogue about the issue. This emphasis on morality, claims MacPherson, increased fear and shame associated with all abortions, leading to an increase in unsafe abortions in India.

The government of India, in a 2011 report, has begun better educating all stakeholders about its MTP and PCPNDT laws. In its communication campaigns, it is clearing up public misconceptions by emphasizing that sex determination is illegal, but abortion is legal for certain medical conditions in India. The government is also supporting implementation of programs and initiatives that seek to reduce gender discrimination, including media campaign to address the underlying social causes of sex selection.

Given the dismal Child Sex Ratio in the country, and the Supreme Court directive of 2003 to State governments to enforce the law banning the use of sex determination technologies, the Ministry set up a National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC). Dr. Rattan Chand, Director (PNDT) was made the convenor of the NIMC. The NIMC under the guidance of Dr. Rattan Chand conducted raids in some of the districts in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat. In April, it conducted raids on three clinics in Delhi. In its reports sent to the Chief Secretaries of the respective States, the committee observed that the Authorities had failed to monitor or supervise the registered clinics.

Laws passed in India to alleviate female foeticide

Other Legislation Year Passed Goals
Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 Prohibits families from taking a dowry, punishable with imprisonment
Hindu Marriage Act 1955 Rules around marriage and divorce for Hindus
Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956 Deals with the legal process of adopting children and the legal obligation to provide "maintenance" for other family members
Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1986 Stops sex trafficking and exploitation
Equal Remuneration Act 1976 Prevents monetary discrimination between men and women in the workforce
Female Infanticide Act 1870 Prevents female infanticide (Act passed in British India)
Ban on ultrasound testing 1996 Bans prenatal sex determination

Central and state government schemes to alleviate female foeticide and child mortality

Other recent policy initiatives adopted by many states of India, claims Guilmoto, attempt to address the assumed economic disadvantage of girls by offering support to girls and their parents. These policies provide conditional cash transfer and scholarships only available to girls, where payments to a girl and her parents are linked to each stage of her life, such as when she is born, completion of her childhood immunization, her joining school at grade 1, her completing school grades 6, 9 and 12, her marriage past age 21. Some states are offering higher pension benefits to parents who raise one or two girls. Different states of India have been experimenting with various innovations in their girl-driven welfare policies. For example, the state of Delhi adopted a pro-girl policy initiative (locally called Laadli scheme), which initial data suggests may be lowering the birth sex ratio in the state. These types of government programs and schemes are a type of redistribution in an attempt to further development in the country. The central and state governments in India have noticed the country's failure to deal with female foeticide on its own and have come up with programs to deal with the problem at hand.

A serious flaw that makes all of these programs ineffective is that they target only lower-income households, while ignoring the population of higher-income households also partaking in female foeticide. Sex determination tests and sex selective abortions are prevalent more amongst affluent families. For example, upper-class families in Haryana have high rates of foeticide and infanticide and the programs do not target these families. A study in Haryana found that the sex ratio at birth for upper caste women was 127 males for 100 females, compared with 105 with lower caste women. While cash transfers successfully improve school enrollment and immunization rates for girls, they do not directly address parent's demand for sons and gender-biased sex selection. Additionally, a study conducted by Bijayalaxmi Nanda, an associate professor of political science at Delhi University, found that many of the beneficiaries of the Delhi Ladli Scheme wanted to use the money received for marriage rather than educational expenses. Another problem with these government conditional cash transfers is that many of them only target the first two daughters in a family and have no incentive for families to have more than two daughters. These non-linear incentive models do not result in the same increase in benefits as the inputs and cash transfers put in by the government. Additionally, they only incentivize a change in behavior until an age, educational, number of daughters threshold and do not prompt people to act beyond these guidelines.

Select Schemes by the Central and State Governments

Program Year Passed Central or State Government Benefits
Balika Samriddhi Yojana 1997 Central Government Cash transfer to mother based on child meeting educational conditions and partaking in income generating activities
Dhan Laxmi Scheme 2008 Central Government Cash transfers to family after meeting conditions (immunization, education, insurance)
Kanya Jagriti Jyoti Scheme 1996 Punjab Cash transfers to two girl children in a family after meeting conditions (immunization, education, insurance)
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana 2015 Central Government Cash transfers based on educational attainment
National Plan of Action 1992 Central Government For the survival, protection, and development of girl children. Goals include ending female feticide, reducing gender disparity, and giving girls better access to resources
Cradle Baby Scheme 1992 Tamil Nadu To eradicate female infanticide and to save the girl Children from the clutches of death
Devirupak 2002 Haryana Cash transfer to couple accepting terminal method of family planning (vasectomy, tubectomy) after birth of 1st or 2nd child
Delhi Ladli Scheme 2008 Delhi Cash transfer based on educational attainment for first two daughters
Apni Beti Apna Dhan 1994 Haryana Cash transfer if daughter reaches the age of 18 without being married
Girl Child Protection Scheme 2005 Andhra Pradesh Cash transfer based on age and educational attainment. Family also has to partake in family planning
Beti Hai Anmol Scheme 2010 Himachal Pradesh Interest earned on back account in daughter's name and cash scholarships for each year of school
Bhagya Laxmi Scheme 2007 Karnataka Cash transfer based on age and educational attainment. Cash provided to families for natural death, health insurance, and scholarships
Mukhyamantri Kanya Suraksha Yojna and Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojna 2008 Bihar Cash transfers to poor families with two daughters
Indra Gandhi Balika Suraksha Yojana 2007 Himachal Pradesh Cash transfers based on age attainment
Ladli Laxami Yojna 2006 Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand Cash transfers based on educational attainment
Rakshak Yojana 2005 Punjab Cash monthly transfers for families with two girls
Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojna 2017 Madhya Pradesh Cash transfer for marriage assistance if the family waits until the legal age to marry off their daughter
Sukanya Samriddhi Account 2015 Central Government Interest earned on bank account opened for daughter after she turns 21

Movie based on female foeticide in India

In August 2023 a movie Titled ‘Panch Kriti’ - Five Elements based on Swachh Bharat Mission was released in India which featured five stories and is set in Chanderi in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh, has been largely shot in real locations. It was a women-centric film that touches upon several important themes and topics pertaining to women. It also delves into the importance of social movements taking place in India like ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ and ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhaao Abhiyaan’.

Other campaigns

Increasing awareness of the problem has led to multiple campaigns by celebrities and journalists to combat sex-selective abortions. Aamir Khan devoted the first episode "Daughters Are Precious" of his show Satyamev Jayate to raise awareness of this widespread practice, focusing primarily on Western Rajasthan, which is known to be one of the areas where this practice is common. Its sex ratio dropped to 883 girls per 1,000 boys in 2011 from 901 girls to 1000 boys in 2001. Rapid response was shown by local government in Rajasthan after the airing of this show, showing the effect of media and nationwide awareness on the issue. A vow was made by officials to set up fast-track courts to punish those who practice sex-based abortion. They cancelled the licences of six sonography centres and issued notices to over 20 others.

This has been done on the smaller scale. Cultural intervention has been addressed through theatre. Plays such as 'Pacha Mannu', which is about female infanticide/foeticide, has been produced by a women's theatre group in Tamil Nadu. This play was showing mostly in communities that practice female infanticide/foeticide and has led to a redefinition of a methodology of consciousness raising, opening up varied ways of understanding and subverting cultural expressions.

The Mumbai High Court ruled that prenatal sex determination implied female foeticide. Sex determination violated a woman's right to live and was against India's Constitution.

The Beti Bachao, or Save girls campaign, has been underway in many Indian communities since the early 2000s. The campaign uses the media to raise awareness of the gender disparities creating, and resulting from, sex-selective abortion. Beti Bachao activities include rallies, posters, short videos and television commercials, some of which are sponsored by state and local governments and other organisations. Many celebrities in India have publicly supported the Beti Bachao campaign.

Inequality (mathematics)

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