...W X _ Z

Anna Hazare is on a fast-unto-death, demanding stringent provisions in the Jan Lokpal bill to bring the corrupt to the book in a speedy and transparent manner. He is also demanding consultations with the civil society in respect to the content of the bill, by bringing representatives from civil society on board, constituting an equal share on the joint committee mooting the bill. What he has done is to bring the public rage and anger on the sensitive issue of corruption in the public sphere to a tipping point, to a stage where people are no longer ready to go with the same-old 'chalta hai' attitude, rather they are standing shoulder to shoulder with Hazare, clamoring for the government to accede to his demands. Therefore, it can be said that a large proportion of our 1.2 billion strong demography has awaken from the stupor it was lying in over the last 2 years. Hence, it is an apt time to bring to notice an issue with far-reaching consequences and tribulations, perhaps more pertinent than the issue of corruption itself, which is not a problem that has risen in the last decade (evidence can be found in Kautilya's Arthashastra of corruption marring state's revenues, and measures which are not unlike what Hazare is boldly demanding).

Last week, the first figures from Census 2011, considered by many to be the most important parameters for formulation of state policy, came in. India is now 167 million behind China on headcount. Way to go for a country 40% the size of its economically far-superior neighbor. That is not the big issue, not yet. The decadal population growth rate has slowed down to 17%. Surely, with amelioration in national literacy, which is now at a healthy 74% and is on an upswing, we can expect the mission of educating the masses on population control will bear fruit. The biggest news coming out of the census, which has been lost somewhere in the din surrounding the nationwide protests on corruption, is that the child sex ratio, i.e. the sex ratio for children aged 0-6 years has fallen from 926 in 2001 to 914 in 2011.

Typically, the health ministry comes out with periodic, if lame, advertisements on improving the sex ratio in the country and how a girl child is at par with a male child in today's knowledge economy. There is also the PNDT (Regulation & Prevention of misuse) act of 1994, which makes it illegal to determine the sex of a child before birth. How effective it has been is a narrative made lucid by the data coming out of Census 2011. The Women and Child development ministry, along with the health ministry, have reasons to hang their heads in shame. It is not as if literacy has not gone up in the last 10 years. Both male and female literacy has shown significant improvement, even if according to some experts the increase in female literacy can be attributed to more elderly women and not necessarily the kids. Not to discount this, but it has to be clear to everybody by now that the ravages of female infanticide and foeticide are destroying India's social fabric slowly but surely. This is a country where the name of the Goddess precedes that of her male counterpart and where wealth, education, and power is wished off female deities! How ironic it is that the same couple that aborts a female child thanks these deities for the good riddance and then prays to the same goddesses for a male one.

So next time when you go home, check for the number of illegal ultrasound centers, that have mushroomed in every nook and corner of the country, operating in your native city. Much better, if there is a doctor in the family, ask him/her about the count of sex determination tests in which he/she have been a complicit or is aware of. And then ask for the reason. The old adages of a son carrying forward the family name no longer exert the same clout. Nor do the arguments of a son being more productive in the sense that his marriage brings in the moolah, because there is another law to save the hapless bride and her family from the evil of dowry. Girls regularly outscore boys in educational tests, and are preferred by recruiters at all levels. Therefore, it is hard to believe that even in this global age, villagers in Haryana would prefer a male child as if he is a boon to the mankind, when unemployment is forcing males in this robust agricultural belt to fall to drug addiction. That the NCR, which boasts of the desi culture and modernness, notwithstanding the everyday events of rape and abduction, has seen an alarming dip in the sex ratio. That every major industrial state in India is now choking on the issue of missing girl child. The government will form a committee, and the data would be forgotten till the next census comes around. There would again be a hue and cry, though hopefully not reflecting a negative sentiment. It is clear that whatever provisions are in place to supplement the growth and nourishment of a girl child are no longer effective. All the aanganwadi schemes are of no good. The daily ration a kid is entitled to is not attractive enough. This is not a problem limited to the central policy. The state governments are as much to blame, even though a few have come up with commendable schemes to incentivise a female child and the increase in the child sex ratio in these states reflects a shift in the society's mindset. The important question is, can we, the citizens come forward and do something about it, like we are in our crusade against corruption? Or will we leave its fate at the mercy of faux NGOs and an impotent ministry?

Edit: This post was written before the government agreed to give in to Hazare's demand for a joint committee to examine the nuances of the Lokpal bill. In the light of this triumph of the voice of common man, perhaps it is time we can move on to other burning issues.