This means that the percentage of females is 10 per cent lower than would have been expected in demographic terms. And United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) figures claim that every sixth female death in India is specifically due to gender discrimination. So much so that as per the 1991 census, the sex ratio has declined to 927 females per 1,000 males compared with 972 females at the beginning of the century.

``In some states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh, the ratio of females is less than 850 per 1,000 males. This could do severe sociological harm in the next century if the number of females keep dwindling at this alarming rate,'' says Vinay Agarwal, secretary of the Indian MedicalAssociation College of General Practitioners.

The IMA has taken up a campaign against female foeticide during the past six months and has been actively discouraging the fraternity from using diagnostic tests to determine the sex of the foetus. Says senior practicing gynecologist Sharda Jain: ``What is alarming is that in many families, in the first delivery, a girl child is accepted. But from the second delivery onward, a baby daughter is mostly frowned upon and wherever possible, the female foetus is aborted before birth.''

The demand for sons has created a whole new medical industry, ranging from dubious ``miracle drugs'' to expensive unsafe tests conducted by quacks and unqualified medical personnel, followed by selective abortions in ill-equipped clinics, says Jain. The advent of a cheap and non-invasive method to determine sex, the ultrasound technique, has been the main reason for the sharp rise in female foeticides.

There are about 20,000 registered ultrasound clinics in the country and severalhundred unregistered ones, especially in rural areas. The springing up of these clinics has taken its toll in states like Haryana and Punjab where, according to the director general of health services, the sex ratio dropped to 750 girls per 1,000 males in 1997 itself.

The Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, which came into force in January 1996, curbed the practice of sex determination tests using amniocentesis, chorion biopsy and ultrasound. All these are now non-bailable offences under the Act, but Jain points out that there has not been a ingle case of conviction for female foeticide under the act countrywide.

Doctors reckon that the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, which was brought in to protect a woman's rights, is being misused by society. ``The sex determination test is done at some other clinic and the woman is advised to go for an abortion at a recognised clinic. Here, the reasons for abortion are not questioned and the women gets the MTP done,'' points out Agarwal.Technologically advanced tests, like the trans-vaginal ultrasound, can reliably determine the sex of the foetus by 14 weeks; the law allows MTPs uptil 20 weeks. ``The situation has gone beyond the clutches of the law, which is why the medical fraternity has to take on the responsibility of ending this evil, instead of helping to end the life of a growing female foetus,'' says Jain.

IMA is planning to continue its campaign against female foeticide, which has been going on for the past six months, especially at the district levels. ``A series of four regional workshops are being held in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Lucknow to make doctors around the country aware of the problem and help fight the menace,'' says Agarwal. IMA is also joining hands with several NGOs working against female foeticide to spread the message against this practice.

They are urging doctors' forums to remind its members that under the IPC, female foeticide is punishable, not to undertake second trimester abortions unless thefoetus has proven congenital defects, or is a grave risk to the mother's life or the pregnancy follows a rape. The IMA has asked all gynaecologists and registered MBBS doctors to record the sex of the foetus for all second trimester abortions and specify the cause of termination instead of merely mentioning ``good faith'', ``trauma to the mother'' or ``contraceptive failure''.

``As responsible citizens of the country, IMA members have pledged not to indulge in the crime of sex determination and selective female foeticide,'' says Agarwal.