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== History: colonial period ==
== History: colonial period ==
[[File:Infanticide-ganges.jpg|thumb|200px|right|An engraving from the early 19th century purporting to show infanticide committed by throwing an infant into the [[Ganges river]].

In 1789, during British [[British India|colonial]] rule in India, the British discovered that female infanticide in the state of [[Uttar Pradesh]] was openly acknowledged.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} A letter from a magistrate who was stationed in the North West of India during this period claimed that for several hundred years no daughter had ever been raised in the strongholds of the Rajahs of Mynpoorie. Only in 1845 did the ruler keep a daughter alive, after a district collector named Unwin intervened.{{sfn|Miller|1987|pp=97-98}} According to [[Marvin Harris]], the reason for these killings was mainly economic and lay in the male desire to keep land and wealth from having to be split between too many heirs{{sfn|Scott|2013|p=6}} A review of scholarship has shown that the majority of female infanticides in India during the colonial period occurred in the North West, and that although not all groups carried out this practice it was widespread. In 1870, the practice was made illegal in the provinces of Oudh, Punjab, and North-Western Province of the British Raj, with the passing of the [[Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870]].{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=99}}<ref name=fipa1>{{Google books|OvYZAAAAYAAJ|The Unrepealed General Acts of the Governor General in Council|page=PA165}}</ref> The Act did not apply to western, central, southern or eastern parts of British India, but it authorized the Governor General of India to expand it to other regions, when appropriate, at his discretion.<ref name=fipa1/>
In 1789, during British [[British India|colonial]] rule in India, the British discovered that female infanticide in the state of [[Uttar Pradesh]] was openly acknowledged.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} A letter from a magistrate who was stationed in the North West of India during this period claimed that for several hundred years no daughter had ever been raised in the strongholds of the Rajahs of Mynpoorie. Only in 1845 did the ruler keep a daughter alive, after a district collector named Unwin intervened.{{sfn|Miller|1987|pp=97-98}} According to [[Marvin Harris]], the reason for these killings was mainly economic and lay in the male desire to keep land and wealth from having to be split between too many heirs{{sfn|Scott|2013|p=6}} A review of scholarship has shown that the majority of female infanticides in India during the colonial period occurred in the North West, and that although not all groups carried out this practice it was widespread. In 1870, the practice was made illegal in the provinces of Oudh, Punjab, and North-Western Province of the British Raj, with the passing of the [[Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870]].{{sfn|Miller|1987|p=99}}<ref name=fipa1>{{Google books|OvYZAAAAYAAJ|The Unrepealed General Acts of the Governor General in Council|page=PA165}}</ref> The Act did not apply to western, central, southern or eastern parts of British India, but it authorized the Governor General of India to expand it to other regions, when appropriate, at his discretion.<ref name=fipa1/>



Revision as of 20:21, 11 May 2015

Female infanticide in India has a history spanning centuries.[1][2] Poverty, dowry system, births to unmarried women, deformed infants, lack of support services and maternal illnesses such as postpartum depression have been cited as reasons for female infanticide in India.[3][4][5]

A total of 111 male and female infanticides were reported in India in 2010.[6] This corresponds to a rate of less than 1 infanticide per million people.[7] Scholars note that infanticide is an underreported crime, and objective reliable data is unavailable.[8][9]

In 1991 the census figures showed there were 25 million more men in India than women. The 2001 Indian census reported the gender difference had increased to 35 million, and by 2005 it was estimated at 50 million by some.[10][11] The numbers involved have led commentators to compare the situation to genocide.[12][13] However, these estimates vary widely by source. In 2011, a different estimate put India's gender gap in 0-19 age group to be about 13.2 million, and gender gap across all ages for the total population to be 43.3 million.[14] The Indian census 2011 reported the gender difference across all ages to be even lower, at 37.3 million.[15] During the British colonial rule, the data from 1881 through 1941 shows India, at least since 1881, always had excess males overall.[16] The gender difference from 1881 to 1941 was particularly high in north and western parts of India, with female deficit among Muslims markedly higher, followed by Sikhs.[16] South India region was an exception reporting excess females overall, which scholars attribute partly to selective emigration of males and the cultural practice of matriarchy.[17]

In 2013, the relative infant mortality rates in India for male infants was 41 per 1,000 birth, while the female mortality rate was 42 per 1,000.[18] The worldwide average infant mortality rate was 43 per 1,000 in 2011.[19] Female children in India are not only at risk at the time of birth, but are also at risk during infancy, with one author[who?] noting that there is a significant decrease in the sex ratio between birth, and up to the age of four. According to Balakrishna, between 1978 and 1983 "of the twelve million girls born each year, only nine million will live to be fifteen".[20] A more recent estimate by UNICEF, for 2013, reports that under-five child mortality rate was 55 per 1,000 female births in India, and 51 per 1,000 male births.[21] At a regional level, there is a parity in survival and health, between male and female infants, in its states of Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.[22]

Definition

Indian law defines infanticide as the homicide of an infant in the 0-1 age group.[23] Female infanticide is the infanticide where the gender of the victim is female. Most scholarly publications on infanticide use the same definition.[24][25][26]

History: colonial period

[[File:Infanticide-ganges.jpg|thumb|200px|right|An engraving from the early 19th century purporting to show infanticide committed by throwing an infant into the Ganges river. In 1789, during British colonial rule in India, the British discovered that female infanticide in the state of Uttar Pradesh was openly acknowledged.[citation needed] A letter from a magistrate who was stationed in the North West of India during this period claimed that for several hundred years no daughter had ever been raised in the strongholds of the Rajahs of Mynpoorie. Only in 1845 did the ruler keep a daughter alive, after a district collector named Unwin intervened.[27] According to Marvin Harris, the reason for these killings was mainly economic and lay in the male desire to keep land and wealth from having to be split between too many heirs[28] A review of scholarship has shown that the majority of female infanticides in India during the colonial period occurred in the North West, and that although not all groups carried out this practice it was widespread. In 1870, the practice was made illegal in the provinces of Oudh, Punjab, and North-Western Province of the British Raj, with the passing of the Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870.[29][30] The Act did not apply to western, central, southern or eastern parts of British India, but it authorized the Governor General of India to expand it to other regions, when appropriate, at his discretion.[30]

Controversy about colonial reports on infanticide

In 1857, John Cave-Brown speculated that the practice of female infanticide among the Jats in the Punjab region originated from "Malthusian motives".[31] In the Gujarat region, the first cited examples of discrepancies in the sex ratio among Lewa Patidars and Kanbis dates from 1847.[32] These historical records have been questioned by modern scholars.[33] The British who never mixed with their Indian subjects to understand their poverty, frustrations, life or culture at close, made their observations from a distance.[33] Cave-Brown documented his speculations on female infanticide using "they tell" hearsay.[31] Bernard Cohn states that the colonial British residents in India would not accuse an individual or family of infanticide as the crime was difficult to prove in a British court, nevertheless accused an entire clan or social group of female infanticide.[33] Nicholas Dirk states, "female infanticide thus became a statistical crime", during the colonial rule of India.[34]

The colonial reports about infanticide, particularly of females, were primarily from Christian missionaries proselytizing in India who sent letters back to Britain characterizing the culture as "savage, ignorant, depraved" followed by statements of their missionary accomplishments.[2][35][36] Scholars have questioned this distorted construction of Indian culture during the colonial era, stating that infanticide practice was as common in England during the 18th and 19th century, as in India.[2][37][38] Some Christian missionaries of Britain, in late 19th century, states Daniel Grey, wrongly believed that female infanticide was sanctioned by scriptures of Hinduism and Islam, and against which Christianity had "centuries after centuries come into victorious conflict".[2]

Impact of famines on infanticide

Famines were very common during the British colonial rule of India, with a frequency rate of one major famine every five to eight years, in the 19th and early 20th century.[39][40] Millions starved to death in each of these famines.[41][42] Infanticide was one of the famine crimes in India, much like China.[43][44] Desperate starving parents in India, during the British Raj famines, would either kill a suffering infant, sell a child to buy food for the rest, or beg people to take them away for nothing and feed them.[43][45] Gupta and Shuzhou state that massive famines and poverty-related historical events had influenced historical sex ratios, and they have had deep cultural ramifications on girls and regional attitudes towards female infant mortality.[44]

Impact of economic policies on infanticide

According to Mara Hvistendahl, documents left behind by the colonial administration following independence showed a direct correlation between the taxation policies of the British East India Company and the rise in female infanticide.[46]

Regional and religious demographics

From 1881 through 1941, demographic data shows India had excess males overall in all those years.[16] The gender difference was particularly high in north and western regions of India, with an overall sex ratio – males per 100 females – of between 110.2 to 113.7 in the north over the 60-year period, and 105.8 to 109.8 males for every 100 female in western India for all ages.[16] Visaria states that female deficit among Muslims was markedly higher, next only to Sikhs.[17] South India region was an exception reporting excess females overall, which scholars attribute partly to selective emigration of males and the regional practice of matriarchy.[17]

The overall sex ratios, and excess males, in various regions were highest among the Muslim population of India from 1881 to 1941, and the sex ratio of each region correlated with the proportion of its Muslim population, with the exception of eastern region of India where the overall sex ratio was relatively low while it had a high percentage of Muslims in the population.[47] If regions that are now part of modern Pakistan are excluded (Baluchistan, North West Frontier, Sind for example), Visaria states that the regional and overall sex ratios for the rest of India over the 1881-1941 period improve in favor of females, with a lesser gap between male and female population.[48]

Contemporary data and statistics

Infanticide in India, and elsewhere in the world, is a difficult issue to objectively access because reliable data is unavailable.[9][49] Scrimshaw states that not only accurate frequency of female infanticide is unknown, differential care between male and female infants is even more elusive data.[9]

Unnithan reports that the total male and female infanticide reported cases in India were 139 in 1995, 86 in 2005 and 111 in 2010.[6] This corresponds to a reported rate of less than one infant homicide per million people in 2010.[7][50] The global average homicide rate, for all ages, was 10.7 per 100,000 people worldwide in 1990. In the age group 0–4 years, the global average homicide rate was higher for female than male, at 8.5 and 7.5 per 100,000 respectively.[51] Scholars state that infanticide is an underreported crime.[8]

The children's rights group CRY has estimated that of 12 million females born yearly in India 1 million die of various causes within their first year of life.[52] Reports of regional cases of female infanticide have appeared in the media, such as those in Usilampatti in southern Tamil Nadu.[53]

Scholars note that infants die from natural causes, malnutrition, lack of clinical services, diseases as well as because of homicide, and a better picture emerges from differential rate of deaths between female and male infants.[26][54] Panagriya et al. state that the total infant mortality rates (IMR) in India has fallen from 129 per 1,000 births in 1971, to 66 per 1,000 births in 2001, and 44 per 1,000 births in 2011. Further, the infant mortality rates in India for male infants was 43 per 1,000, while the female infant mortality rate was 46 per 1,000 in 2011.[55] They note that the overall and the gender-selective difference in infant mortalities in India has fallen significantly between 1971 and 2011.[55] The worldwide average infant mortality rate was 43 per 1,000 in 2011.[19]

Reasons

Extreme poverty with an inability to afford raising a child is one of the reasons given for female infanticide in India.[4][56] Scholars state that extreme poverty has been a major reason for high infanticide rates in various cultures, throughout history, including England, France and India.[57][58][59]

The dowry system in India is another reason that is given for female infanticide. Although India has taken steps to abolish the dowry system,[60] the practice persists, and for poorer families in rural regions female infanticide and gender selective abortion is attributed to the fear of being unable to raise a suitable dowry and then being socially ostracized.[3]

Other major reasons given for female infanticide, as well as male infanticide, include unwanted child such as those conceived after rape, deformed child in impoverished family, and those born to unmarried mothers lacking reliable, safe and affordable birth control.[4][61][9] Relationship difficulties, low income, lack of support coupled with mental illness such as postpartum depression have also been reported as reasons for female infanticide in India.[5][62][63]

Elaine Rose in 1999 reported that excess female mortality is correlated to poverty, infrastructure and means to feed one's family, and that there has been an increase in the ratio of the probability that a girl survives to the probability that a boy survives with favorable rainfall each year and the consequent ability to irrigate farms in rural India.[26]

Ian Darnton-Hill et al. state that the effect of malnutrition, particularly micronutrient and vitamin deficiency, depends on sex, and it adversely impacts female infant mortality.[64]

State response

In 1992 the Indian government started the baby cradle scheme. The plan was to allow families to give their child up for adoption without having to go through the adoption procedure, no names are taken. The scheme has been given praise for possibly saving the lives of thousands of baby girls, but has also been criticized by human rights groups, who say that the scheme encourages child abandonment and also reinforces the low status in which women are held. [65] The scheme which was piloted in Tamil Nadu, saw cradles placed outside state run health facilities. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu at the time, added another incentive, which was to give money to families who had more than one daughter. In the four years following the programme's inception 136 baby girls were given over, but in 2000, 1,218 cases of female infanticide were reported, the scheme was deemed a failure and abandoned but the following year was reinstated.[66]

In 1991 the Girl Child Protection Scheme was launched. It operates as a long term financial incentive, with rural families having to meet certain obligations, such as sterilization for the woman. Once the obligations are met the state puts aside ₨ 2000 in a state run fund, and upon reaching twenty the girl may use the money, which now should stand at ₨ 10,000, to either marry, or go into higher education.[67]

International reactions

The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) wrote in their 2005 report, Women in an Insecure World, that at a time when the number of casualties in war had fallen, a "secret genocide" was being carried out against women.[68] According to DCAF the demographic shortfall of women who have died for gender related issues is in the same range as the 191 million estimated dead from all conflicts in the twentieth century.[69] In 2012 the documentary It's a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World was released. The documentary focused on female infanticide in China and in India.[70]

In 1991 Elisabeth Bumiller wrote May You be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India around the subject of infanticide.[71] In the chapter on female infanticide titled, No More Little Girls that the prevailing reason for the practice is "not as the act of monsters in a barbarian society but as the last resort of impoverished, uneducated women driven to do what they thought was best for themselves and their families."[72]

Gift of A Girl Female Infanticide is a 1998 documentary that explores the prevalence of female infanticide in southern India, as well as steps which have been taken to help eradicate the practice. The documentary won an award from the Association for Asian Studies.[73][74]

Related issue: sex-selective abortion

While infanticide is the homicide of an infant in the first year of life, female foeticide is sex-selective abortion, where a female foetus is selectively aborted.[57][75] Like infanticide, reliable data for female foeticide is unavailable, and its frequency is indirectly estimated from the observed high birth sex ratio, that is the ratio of boys to girls at birth or 0-1 age group infants, or 0-6 age group child sex ratio.[76] The natural ratio is assumed to be 106, or somewhere between 103 to 107, and any number above or below this range is considered as suggestive of female or male foeticide respectively.[77][78]

According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in the 0 to 6 age group in India has risen from 102.4 males per 100 females in 1961 (life expectancy of 41),[79] to 104.1 in 1981, to 107.8 in 2001, to 108.8 in 2011 (life expectancy of 66 years).[80][81] The female to male sex ratio for children in 0-6 age group is within the normal natural range in all eastern and southern states of India, but significantly higher in certain western and particularly northwestern states such as Punjab, Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir (118, 120 and 116, as of 2011, respectively).[82] In the age-group 0-1, the state of Jammu & Kashmir has reported India's highest male to female sex ratio in 2011 census.[83] Further, in contrast to decadal nationwide census data, smaller sample surveys have reported higher child sex ratios in India.[84]

High birth and child sex ratio of India has been compared to other nations.[85] Even higher sex ratios than in India have been reported for the last 20 years in China, Pakistan, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and some Southeast European countries.[85] There is an ongoing debate as to the cause of high sex ratios in the 0-1 and 0-6 age groups in India. The suggested reasons for high birth sex ratio include regional female foeticide using amniocentesis regardless of income or poverty because of patrilineal culture,[86][87] the underreporting of female births,[88] smaller family size and selective stopping of family size once a male is born,[89][90] and natural causes such as stress, harmones or early marriage.[78][91]

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