In an effort to curb the growing problem of female infanticide, the Indian government has been contemplating paying cash to families of baby girls. The plan would give grants of around $5000 USD to indigent families, including health insurance, until the daughter reaches the age of 18. Critics find the plan problematic, asserting that it is wealthier and educated families who most often opt to abort female fetuses. Critics argue that the government would do better by enforcing the 14-year-old anti-infanticide law (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act) rather than using “schemes” such as paying families to keep their girl children.
A 2006 survey by the medical journal Lancet found that “[p]renatal sex determination followed by selective abortion of female fetuses is the most plausible explanation for the low sex ratio at birth in India.” Jha, Prabhat, Dr., et al, Low male-to-female sex ratio of children born in India: national survey of 1.1 million households, The Lancet, 367:211-218 (21 January 2006). This practice means that almost half a million baby girls are never born annually in India.
Compiled from: Gagandeep, India's Anti-Feticide Plan Frustrates Leading Critic, Women's eNews, 1 October 2008; Jha, Prabhat, Dr., et al, Low male-to-female sex ratio of children born in India: national survey of 1.1 million households, The Lancet, 367:211-218 (21 January 2006).