State Level Training on Effective Implementation of the PC-PNDT Act

Updated on 16 May, 2022

On 30 April, 2022, ADF India’s Vanishing Girls Campaign and Girls Count in collaboration with the Directorate of Family Welfare, Health & Family Welfare Department, GNCT of Delhi organised a State Level Training in New Delhi on effective implementation of the PC-PNDT Act.

Shri Amit Singla, Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, GNCT of Delhi, was the Guest of Honor at the one-day training and gave a special address. He stated, “A consistent capacity building effort like this training is not only helpful in understanding the Act in letter and spirit but also improves the implementation of the Act.”

Mrs. Tehmina Arora, Director, ADF India, making the opening remarks said, “ADF India, as part of its Vanishing Girls campaign, is committed to do all we can to change the situation and use our skills and resources to protect the unborn Girl Child. As a national network of lawyers, we provide pro bono legal services to vulnerable communities. We have conducted legal training on the rights of women, trained ASHA workers and doctors. In addition, we have also led social campaigns to build awareness on this issue, to check on the problem of sex-selective abortions and to promote the inherent worth of the baby girl. I encourage us to use this training to grapple through the challenges we are trying to address as we look into the PCPNDT Act.”

The panel of speakers at the training included Dr. Monika Rana, Chairperson, State Appropriate Authority, Delhi & Director, DFW, GNCT of Delhi; Smt. Mahalakshmi Pavani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Shri Gude Venkateswara Rao, Director, Directorate of Prosecution, GNCT of Delhi; and Dr Satyajit Kumar, State Nodal Officer, PCPNDT Cell, DFW, GNCT of Delhi.

The technical sessions were led by Adv. Varsha Deshpande, National Inspection and Monitoring Committee; Rizwan Parwez, Girls Count; Dr Satyajit Kumar, State Nodal Officer, PCPNDT Cell, DFW, Govt. of NCT of Delhi; Adv. Uday Prakash Warunjikar, Bar Council of India; Adv. Jagriti Singh, Delhi High Court; and Adv. Jaiwant Patankar, Legal Counsel, ADF India. These technical sessions covered an overview of the implementation of the PC-PNDT Act in Delhi, the trend in Sex Ratio at Birth, standard operating guidelines of the Act, online content monitoring important etc.

The training was attended by over 120 personnel including public prosecutors, members of Delhi State Legal Services Authority, investigation officers, nodal officers, and Sub Divisional Magistrates.

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Vanishing Girls is a campaign initiated by ADF India to raise awareness against the practice of sex-selective abortions and to advocate for effective implementation of the Pre Conception Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994.

Webinar On Increasing Violence Against Women And Children During Lockdown

To address the 'Increasing Violence against Women and Children during Lockdown', ADF India's Vanishing Girls Campaign is presenting a Legal Response webinar featuring Ms. Aparna Bhat, Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020
4:00 - 5:00 pm
Followed by half an hour of Q&A

Delhi State Level Training on Standard Operating Guidelines and Code Of Conduct under the PCPNDT Act

New Delhi

The Child Sex Ratio across the country has been on a decline after the last Census in 2011, where Delhi only having 871 girls for every 1000 boy. This implies that there is a dire need for strict implementation of the PCPNDT (Prohibition of Sex Selection) 1994 Act across Delhi.

To highlight the importance for an effective implementation of the PCPNDT Act, ADF India’s Vanishing Girls Campaign And Girls Count In Collaboration With Directorate Of Family Welfare, Health & Family Welfare Department, GNCT Of Delhi, organized a day-long training for the District Appropriate Authorities as well as the District Nodal Officers (PNDT) on the ‘Standard Operating Guidelines’ and the ‘Code of Conduct’ to be observed by them under the PCPNDT Act on 26th July 2019 at India International Centre, New Delhi.

The Chief Guest for the program, Hon’ble Health Minister of Delhi, Shri. Satyendra Kumar Jain will deliver the keynote address. Other speakers include Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Mr. Uday Warunjikar, Advocate, Bombay High Court; Mrs. Varsha Deshpande Advocate, Lekh Ladki Abhiyan; Ms. Ifat Hamid, Consultant (Gender), PNDT Division, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India. They will speak on ‘Demystifying the PCPNDT Act’ and the ‘Standard Operating Guidelines’. Anushree Bernard, Coordinator for the Vanishing Girls Campaign who will be moderating the day-long program states that “an enhanced implementation of the PCPNDT Act across Delhi will ensure that all girls will have the chance to live, dream and succeed”.

Speaking at the day-long training program, Shri Satyendar Jain, Hon’ble Health Minister, Government of NCT of Delhi asked the District Appropriate Authorities and the District Nodal Officers (PNDT) to take their roles seriously in implementing the PCPNDT Act. The Minister felt sad that Delhi is listed third from the bottom in the list of child sex ratio in India. He stated that the practice of sex determination and sex-selective abortions are rampant among the rich and affluent families in Delhi especially South Delhi that has one of the lowest child sex ratios among all the eleven districts in Delhi. He urged the officials under the PCPNDT department to be stringent and suspend the faltering clinics and doctors as prescribed under the Act.

Four sessions on technical training on unpacking sections of the law, recent amendments, code of conduct for appropriate authorities, registration of centers, an inspection of centers, search, seizure, and sealing of the diagnostic centers, the conduct of decoy, and, filing a case.

Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court, exclaimed “It is a genocide,” during his technical training session with the District Appropriate Authorities and the District Nodal Officers. He noted that unless the appropriate authorities and nodal officers do not take any action, no groundwork will be achieved.

Dr. Adv. Uday Prakash Warunjikar, Vice President, Bar Association of India, highlighted in his training that implementation of the law has been slow. While the technology is now allowing gender to be tailored before the pregnancy via IVFs and other medical advancements, the authorities are still struggling to regulate illegal gender reveal via sonography ie. Ultra-sound scans.

Adv. Varsha Deshpande reiterated that if the authorities implement the law in the right manner, millions of our girl-child will be saved and the change in the child sex ratio will be achieved for sure. She shared her practical experience of implementing the PCPNDT in the state of Maharashtra.

Ms. Ifat Hamid, Consultant (Gender), Ministry of Health& Family Welfare Division, Govt. of India shared about the operating guidelines related to the 6-month training on the PCPNDT act that the state governments across India should provide to the diagnosticians and doctors.

Dr. Nutan Mundeja, Chairperson, State Appropriate Authority, Delhi & Director, DFW, Govt. of NCT of Delhi had earlier noted in her welcome note that the families who choose to commit gender-based feticide affect not only these families but the larger community of the state of Delhi.

In her closing remark, she said, “As the Delhi government we are happy to be able to conduct this workshop. It gave an opportunity to our District Appropriate Authorities and the District Nodal Officers (PNDT) to interact with experts on the matter and gave us a chance to hear them out on the issues they face in the implementation of the act. We look forward to further strengthen the implementation with the help of those who want to come along…”

Mr. Rizwan of Girls Count noted,” this kind of collaboration and training was much needed because last 3 years we have seen the implementation of the PCPNDT act as not been so effective in Delhi, …the sample registration system data is declining towards 850 girls… and that’s why we think that it is important to encourage the district officials and give them the support that the civil society can provide. We want to implement the PCNDT Act in a collaborative manner in Delhi and this was the motive of this consultation.”

Ms. Anushree Bernard of the Vanishing Girls campaign said, “Changing mindsets alone cannot improve the declining Child Sex ratio. We need a fierce implementation of the PCPNDT Act to ensure that the perpetrators who conduct sex determination do not getaway”

Two-day legal seminar held with Jhunjhunu's Asha workers.

Asha workers of the State Government of Rajasthan are uniquely positioned to change the narrative in one of the worst affected areas when it comes to gender ratio at the birth imbalance. Abortion of an unborn child after sex selection before birth is a heinous act.

Mr Ravi Jain, district collector, Jhunjhunu shed light on this fact in a two-day seminar organized at Jhunjhunu's health department's event centre by the PCPNDT cell, in association with ADF India, SRKPS and Vanishing Girls.

The gender ratio of Jhunjhunu in 2011, when the last census was held was 848. Mr Jain appreciated the voluntary efforts of SRKPS in association with ADF India's VAnishing Girls campaign for spreading the awareness of the cause and for the implementation of the law.

Rajan Chaudhary, representative, SRKPS mentioned about the changes that the local community has gone through, including the young girls in cultural rituals otherwise meant for males of the society.

Adv. Anushree Bernard project manager of Vanishing Girls, Adv. Loreign and Ms. Temjeninla, media-personnel of the Vanishing Girls campaign took a workshop on women's rights that was attended by 70 Asha workers of the area.