Rani Laxmibai
Great warrior of India's
First War of Independence

Sarojni Naidu
Freedom fighter and
first Lady Governor in India

Mother Teresa
Example of selfless services
Noble Laureate & great missionary

Lata Mangeshkar
Great playback singer
of Indian Cinema

San Suu Kyi
Great messenger of peace and
liberty from Mayanmar

Indira Gandhi
First woman prime minister
of India

About Beti Bachao
Background introduction
The socio-cultural practices in India are pre-dominantly biased against the females mostly due to the patriarchical structure of the society. Indian culture, tradition and family beliefs are mostly against female and girls are treated as liability leading to female foeticide (aborting female babies) resulting in skewed sex ratio and almost a million girl foetus have been killed. The Primary Reasons for abortions are Male dominating society, Financial (Property, Dowry, Marriage, culture) and various religious and spiritual myths. Girls are viewed as a burden, various beliefs and social factors have resulted in widespread discrimination against the girl child resulting in alarming decrease in child-sex ratio in the country of late, particularly so in some States, and this is where the roots of Female Foeticide in India lies. Demographically the ratio has increased from 927 females per 1000 males to 933 from census of 1991 to 2001; however this ratio is alarmingly decreasing among children in the age group of 0-6 and the as per the 2011 census there are 914 females for 1000 males. If it continues, it’s going to further deepen the gender imbalance in the society.
Sex selection and its affects
Sex Selection is the practice of determining the sex of the unborn foetus and eliminating it if found to be female. Sex Selection is commonly referred to as Female Foeticide. The root cause of Sex Selection is the low status of women and girls in a male-dominated society which discriminates against girls. The culture of son-preference has led to ultrasound technology being used for sex determination, often followed by elimination of the female. Some try to justify sex selection by saying that fewer girls in a society will eventually enhance the status of girls. On the contrary, with fewer girls as compared to boys, it could lead further restrictions on girls and women, increased violence against them, rape, abduction, trafficking and a resurgence of practices such as polyandry (more than one man marrying one woman). In some parts of the country, the media has even reported that women are being ‘bought’ as brides.

As per nature’s own balance, 940-950 girls are born per 1000 boys. By finding out the number of girls actually born per 1000 boys, we can calculate the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB). Similarly, by finding out the number of girls per 1000 boys in the 0-6 years age group, we get to know the Child Sex Ratio (CSR). SRB provides a more accurate indication of the extent to which sex selection occurs in a community. The 2001 census provides CSR data at the national, state and district levels. The Sample Registration System (SRS) provides data on SRB at the national and state levels. As per the 2001 census, the CSR of India was 927 girls to 1000 boys in the 0-6 years age group.


Sex Selection is prohibited as per PC & PNDT Act, 1994

The Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT Act) 1994 prohibits sex selection, before or after conception. Its purpose is to prevent misuse of technologies, such as ultrasound, in situations where information on sex of the foetus is found out for the specific purpose of eliminating girls. It is illegal to test the sex of the foetus for non-medical reasons. The law provides for imprisonment and fine. The law suffers from the bottlenecks of implementation, and there have been few convictions so far. The major difficulty relates to proving that an offence has occurred, since it takes place behind closed doors, with connivance between the medical service provider and parents.


Beti Bachao Initiative

For the first time in the history of IT intervention in this category was introduced in year 2007, thought over by than District Collector, Jabalpur (MP, India) IAS Sanjay Dubey and implemented. However it was a little success as the initiative could not take off after his transfer from the District of Jabalpur. It was than taken over by District of Kolhapur and than spread further. Beti Bachao is a logical extension with latest modification and was conceived by the inventors of Silent Observer™ from Sukrut Systems, Pune. After studying various solutions available in the market, the company has specifically designed this solution to help the administration and appropriate authorities while at the same time take care of the convenience of sonography center owners. It is designed as an MIS (Management Information System) for the district and state appropriate authorities.


PCPNDT Act


PC & PNDT Act, 1994
An Act to provide for the prohibition of sex selection, before or after conception, and for regulation of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for the purposes of detecting genetic abnormalities or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital malformations or sex-linked disorders and for the prevention of their misuse for sex determination leading to female foeticide; and, for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC & PNDT) Act passed by the Indian Parliament came into force in 1994 for regulation and prevention of misuse of the diagnostic techniques. Subsequently, following a Supreme court order on its proper implementation certain amendments were made to the Act. The declining sex ratio in India particularly in the 0-6 year age group is a matter of grave concern. It was expected that proper implementation of the PC & PNDT Act would check the pre-natal sex termination and elimination of the female foetus within the womb at least to some extent.

Enforcement Difficulties and Inception of IT intervention
Although there has been ample time for implementing the Act, there is no sign that the decline in child sex ratio has been improved. Most states have set up the infrastructure prescribed in the Act, but this infrastructure has proved ineffective. It was very important to identify the challenges in the effective implementation of the act. It was assumed that online reporting (F-form as prescribed in PC&PNDT Act) might improve the situation however this did not happen. The promoters of Sukrut Systems, Pune were keen to solve the riddle. We discovered that Under Reporting & False Reporting of the conducted sonography of a concerned foetus had been the major issues. Online reporting has been completely unsuccessful and the only way to work through was to have a cross check of the sonography records. Equipped with the expertise of software/hardware co-design expertise, promoters of Sukrut Systems, knew that the majority of these problems can be solved with an embedded hardware that not only records the sonographies conducted at the sonography centers but also to provide enough security to the data as well as work like a black box where pre-to-post installation usage pattern of a USG (ultra sonography) machine is negligible. The idea incepted in 2007 and finally resulted in the birth of Silent Mate in 2009 which was renamed as Silent Observer™ later. Silent Observer™ complements the F-form, filled online or offline at these centers.

PC & PNDT Act Information
PC & PNDT Act (English)
PC & PNDT Act For Medical Professionals
Form A (English)
Form C (English)
Form E (English)
Form G (English)
MTP Act (English)
PC & PNDT Act For Public
Form B (English)
Form D (English)
Form F (English)
Form H (English)
Silent Observer™

In the regulatory approach taken by the government, there exists a paradoxical situation that the entire responsibility of filling, maintaining and submitting of F-form lies with the doctors, who themselves are under the scanner by the PC & PNDT Act as potential malpractioners. The Act is capable in handling such lacunas however; lack of proper support tools to the law enforcement agencies with substantial evidence had been a major setback in the effective implementation of the PC & PNDT Act. SIOB™ addresses this particular pain area by providing a tool to law enforcement agencies by addressing the two major threats of Under and False reporting to the PC & PNDT Act implementation.


Silent Observer™ (also known as SIOB™) is an embedded device that connects to a Sonography Machine used to view and analyze the sonograms of a fetus. SIOB™ captures the videographic information of F-form to complement the physical F-form as described in PC & PNDT Act 1994 and amendments thereafter.


Coupled with Sonography machine on one end and F-form reporting system on the other, Silent Observer™ or Silent Observer™ - 2 addresses to issue to a great extent keeping a continuous watch on the reporting system. Due to the above mentioned benefits of the SIOB™ the chances of sex selective abortion is drastically reduced and any offenders of the PC & PNDT can be brought before the law.



Silent Observer™ - 2

Silent Observer™ - 2 is the advanced version of Silent Observer™ that was installed in Kolhapur in 2010. We Introduced Silent Observer™ - 2 in Year 2011/12 after looking at the various possible upgradation with respect to the available technology. Silent Observer™ - 2 comes with some of the salient features which are unique to our solution. The key upgradation are;
  •    GSM/GPRS Support added
  •    SMS Support for daily Status update
  •    Secure Cabling
  •    No On/off switch
  •    Updated Encryption Algorithm
  •    Update configurable Storage capacity up to 1TB (1000GB)
  •    Upgraded firmware Release 2.0
  •    New Application Interface for Appropriate Authorities Release 2.0
  •    Efficient storage algorithms
  •    Stiffened quality measures
This way, Silent Observer™ -2 and Silent Observer™ -1 are positioned for online and offline monitoring of the sonography machine activities as per the requirements of implementing appropriate authorities.


PCPNDT Portal for Online Form - F

Online PC&PNDT portal helps in effective implementation of PC&PNDT Act, with a comprehensive inbuilt facility for filling of new -F prescribed by the Govt. of India starting from Jan/Feb 2014online by the all the sonography centers. The solutions provides data analysis for the appropriate authorities, gathering data and pin pointing on the suspected cases/centers. Along with Silent Observer™ - 2, online Form - F solutions is aimed to help the appropriate authorities at the district as well as the state level for better management of information and information flow from the sonologists/radiologists upto the state appropriate authorities.


Proceed to PC&PNDT Online portal for Form - F



Write to us at betibachao@sukrutsystems.com.
Sukrut Systems | Beti Bachao Abhiyan

Contact Stay Connected

View Beti Bachao profile on Facebook View Beti Bachao profile on LinkedIn

Beti Bachao Team
C/O Sukrut Systems
Pune, Maharashtra
India - 411 001
Phone - +91 206 522 2258
betibachao@sukrutsystems.com