Despite over three decades of the PC&PNDT Act, sex selection practices continue in India. Critically examine the implementation gaps and suggest reforms for more effective enforcement.

Enacted in 1994 and renamed in 2003 to cover pre-conception techniques, the PC&PNDT Act criminalises sex determination and sex selection [1]. Yet the Supreme Court, in June 2026 while dismissing a Maharashtra doctor's appeal, held that "deep-seated patriarchal preferences" sustain sex selection "behind the curtains" [2] — indicating that the law's letter has outpaced its enforcement.

Achievements of the legal regime

• Statutory deterrence: prohibition on conducting and advertising sex determination, backed by imprisonment and fine, with a Central Supervisory Board for oversight [1].
• Measurable demographic gain: Sex Ratio at Birth rose 18 points, from 819 (2016–18) to 917 (2021–23) per SRS Report 2023 [3].
• Complementary promotion: Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (2015, Panipat), extended to all 640 districts, shifted policy from mere prohibition to affirmatively valuing the girl child [4].

Persisting implementation gaps

• Weak enforcement machinery: Appropriate Authorities are understaffed and reluctant to prosecute fellow professionals; the Centre still funds basic PNDT Cell operationalisation and capacity building through NHM [5].
• Technological escape routes: portable diagnostic devices and online advertisements for sex determination outstrip regulatory capacity — flagged as "emerging digital-era challenges" [5].
• Conflict of interest: clinics' revenue from ultrasound conflicts with their legal duty, producing regulatory capture.
• Social roots untouched: dowry, patrilineal inheritance and old-age dependence make daughters an economic liability, so demand survives supply-side bans.

Way forward

• Fully staff and insulate Appropriate Authorities; make real-time online tracking of ultrasound machines (F-form digitisation) mandatory.
• Extend regulation to portable devices and mandate takedown of online sex-selection advertisements [5].
• Sustain state-level sensitisation workshops and decoy operations with time-bound trials [5].
• Attack demand through enforcement of daughters' coparcenary rights and conditional cash transfers.

Sex selection is ultimately a social problem with a legal remedy; the law can only hold the line while attitudes change. Pairing rigorous enforcement with economic empowerment of women advances both Article 15's promise of non-discrimination and SDG-5, converting an improving ratio into genuine equality of worth.