Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has suggested that sex determination tests should be mandatory to track births
Union Minister Maneka Gandhi today clarified that her comment on making sex determination tests compulsory to check the killing of female babies was a "point of view and not a proposal."
Mrs Gandhi, the Women and Child Development Minister, had said at an event yesterday: "It is better that we change the policy. As soon as the woman is pregnant, it becomes compulsory for her to tell if it is a boy or a girl and she has to register. If she registers in the initial stages, you will be able to monitor whether the birth took place or not."
She also said: "I am just putting out this idea. It is being discussed though there is no conclusion yet."
The minister called it a different way to look at the problem of female foeticide. "We cannot keep catching people doing (illegal) ultrasound," she said.
After the comments set off a debate, her ministry sent out a clarification.
"It is clarified that the WCD Minister referred to this as a point of view which has often been brought up by stakeholders before the ministry. She had specifically stated that this needs further debate and had requested the media persons to give their suggestions. It is further clarified that there is no formal proposal being considered by the ministry on this issue at this stage," the ministry said in a statement.
Sex determination tests were banned in India in 1994 in an attempt to check foeticide or the killing of female fetuses in parts of the country where the birth of a boy is considered a boon.
India is among the countries with the worst child sex ratios in the world. The 2011 Census showed that there are 914 girls to 1,000 boys in India.
Reacting to Ms Gandhi's comments, some activists said that allowing sex determination tests would be a disaster in less developed societies where women are given little choice.