Terming as "regressive" Union Minister Maneka Gandhi's suggestion to legalise prenatal sex determination for fighting female foeticide, the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) today said it would be "counterproductive" to the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign.
"While the government too wants in all its earnestness to address the declining sex ratio and child sex ratio, any proposal to make sex determination tests legal will be counterproductive to the 'Beti Bachao' campaign of the government and will not address the problem at all," T K Rajalakshmi, President of Indian Women's Press Corps, said.
If the move is implemented, medical practitioners will get licence only to gain from it commercially, the organisation said.
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"It would give a licence and a fillip to all those who believe in male child preference and to those who practise it medically and gain from it commercially," she said.
Calling it as "regressive" to amend the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, the body requested the government to reject any such proposal.
"Any move to alter the PCPNDT Act in this direction can only be regressive. We urge you to take measures to ensure compliance with the Act and to penalise those who conduct the tests and take advantage of the societal bias towards the male child.
"It is because there are unscrupulous practitioners in the medical community that the child sex ratio still does not show remarkable levels of improvement," she said in a representation to Women and Child Development Minister Gandhi.
Speaking yesterday at an event in Jaipur, Gandhi had said, "In my personal view, the woman should be compulsorily told whether it is a boy or girl child whom she is going to give birth to. I am just putting out this idea. It is being discussed though there is no conclusion yet."
The minister's suggestion evoked sharp reaction from activists and netizens as it would result in lifting of the ban on prenatal sex determination under the PCPNDT Act.
