Why not detect sex of foetus, then protect girl child: Indian Medical Association chief Asokan
New Delhi, Apr 30: A ban on sex determination tests through a law may stop female foeticide but female infanticide will happen, Indian Medical Association chief Dr R V Asokan has said, arguing that a social evil cannot have a medical solution.
In an interaction with PTI editors, Asokan said IMA is working on a document to revamp the existing Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act, which prohibits pre-natal diagnostic techniques for determination of the sex of the foetus and holds doctors accountable. “And one suggestion would be why not detect the sex of the foetus and then protect the girl child," he said.
"For a social evil you cannot have a medical solution. Is it workable or practical? Let us discuss that. What will happen is that if you don't correct the social evil, female foeticide will disappear, female infanticide will happen," he explained.
In Asokan’s view, the PC-PNDT Act is completely warped, short sighted and NGO driven.
"We have a stake in preventing female foeticide but we don’t agree with the methodology PC-PNDT Act has taken. The methodology has caused so much difficulty for doctors," Asokan, who is IMA’s national president, said.
"If there is one law we want to be taken out of the statute that is PC-PNDT. It doesn't deserve its place," he said.
The doctors’ body has been demanding re-envisioning of the PC-PNDT Act for quite some time.
According to Asokan, there are no differences of opinion about saving the girl child. "The common objective is one... presuming all the doctors to be culpable and anti-life is very wrong," he stressed.
The IMA, Asokan added, is aggrieved over certain rules in the act and with doctors being pulled up for technical lapses and incorrect filling of forms.
The regulations that have come up on the matter are very unfair, he said.
For instance, the regulation states that machines cannot even be moved from one room to another room. “Moreover, not filling up ‘Form F’ is considered to be equal to female foeticide,” he elaborated.
Form F under the PC-PNDT Act records the medical history of a pregnant woman and why the ultrasound is being done.
Under the present law, doctors not filling up Form F properly are given the same punishment as someone who does a sex determination test.
"An institution like the Honourable Supreme Court has said if you do not fill up Form F you are committing female foeticide. How is this acceptable?" he asked.
The IMA chief cited an instance from Coimbatore 15 days ago when a gynaecologist was convicted and sentenced for three years for not filling up Form F properly.
"The law is NGO driven, initiated by the Supreme Court of India. There is a layman perspective in the law...
"So we have been having brainstorming sessions and thinking why not detect the sex, detect the female child and then protect that child. It is possible... tag that child, see what happens to her, follow the mother and see that the girl child is delivered normally.”
Asokan lamented the fact that the entire medical profession is in the dock because of a few black sheep.
"Now I want the profession to be out of it. We are not saying that it (sex determination) should be allowed. If this is acceptable you accept it. Otherwise remove those harassment points.”
Asokan said the document they are working on will come up in the central working committee of the IMA and the idea is to “provoke a discussion even in the Supreme Court" if necessary.
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If Ambedkar was not there, Nehru would not have allowed reservation for SCs and STs: PM Modi
Motihari (Bihar) (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday alleged that the INDIA bloc stood for corruption, appeasement politics and a "perverted anti-Sanatan mindset", all of which would receive a "big blow" when the Lok Sabha poll results are announced on June 4.
Addressing an election rally in the East Champaran Lok Sabha constituency of Bihar, the PM also launched indirect attacks on leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, who he said were "born with silver spoons".
"The nation cannot move forward with the sins of the INDIA bloc, which stands for corruption, appeasement politics, represents the 'tukde-tukde' gang and a perverted mindset that heaps scorn on Sanatan Dharma," he said.
"This is the reason why the INDIA bloc was exhausted in the very first phase of the elections. In the subsequent phases, it was battered. In the remaining two phases, the trend will continue and on June 4 when votes are counted, the results will come as a big blow to the intentions of the opposition alliance," he claimed.
Modi alleged that Congress wants to change the Constitution to "snatch" reservations from SCs, STs and OBCs, and hand it over to those who indulge in "vote jihad".
"If Ambedkar was not there, Nehru would not have allowed reservation for SCs and STs," he claimed.
Modi also bristled at the opposition parties' criticism of welfare schemes run by his government, claiming his opponents had "bundles of notes stashed away in Swiss banks" and could not understand the plight of the common people "the way I do, having been born in a poor family".
"They were opening accounts in Swiss banks, while the people of India were starving," he alleged.
Referring to Tejashwi Yadav, whom he did not mention by name, Modi said, "I am told that the 'waaris of jungle raaj' has been saying I will be advised bed rest after the Lok Sabha elections. The 'shehzada' of Congress says he wants to see me in tears. His party openly chants slogans like 'Modi teri kabr khudegi' (your grave will be dug)."
"These people have a counterpart in Uttar Pradesh (an allusion to Akhilesh Yadav) who says I have reached the end of my life and hence contesting from Varanasi," said Modi, adding that the remarks betrayed a lack of sensitivity on the part of those "born with silver spoons, who have never known what is a life filled with struggles".
In his speech, Modi also made a reference to the much-talked-about feast Gandhi had enjoyed at Lalu Prasad’s residence last year.
"Those who refused the invitation to the consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya had no problems in sharing a meal with the corrupt," he said.
Modi also referred to East Champaran as Mahatma Gandhi's "karma bhoomi" and his own roots in Gujarat "the janmabhoomi (place of birth)".
"The Congress betrayed his ideals upon coming to power and devoted itself to promoting the interests of one family," he alleged.
"I have spent my first 10 years in power filling the potholes left by the Congress. I intend to speed up progress in the next term," said Modi as he spoke about his thrust on welfare measures like toilets for women "who had to suffer physical ailments because of the absence of this very basic of all amenities".
