India's lost daughters: Abortion toll in millions :
As many as 10 million (= 1000000 = 1 Crore) female foetuses / infants may have been aborted in India over the last 20 years as families try to secure a male heir, according to a study published Monday in The Lancet, the British medical journal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/7039681.stm
another story from New York times
these are official figures, real figures are expected to be at least twice the official ones. the major reason for such a skewed ratio & the most astonishing one was not the want of Son or hatred for a girl child. but that the girl child's upbringing is costly affair for parents.
- first she has to be educated at par to get good groom, otherwise she has to be fed throughout her life
- then comes the question of stri-dhan, fathers start collecting the gold for marriage since the girl child's birth, only if they plan to let her live.
- then comes dowry although ill-legal for ages, the custom still continues and is socially rewarding even in elite classes in India
All that can make middle class father of a single daughter bankrupt, & so they don't want another girl child. the poor people can only manage to brutally kill the girl child as they cannot afford the clean way of foeticide like most of the elite classes.
Down south the society takes pride in showing off how much dowry they arranged for. North Indians too are not behind
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/When-baraatis-took-BMWs-solitaires-home/articleshow/6825573.cms
The sex ratio in Rajasthan & Haryana is so skewed that polyandrous marriages where the bride is purchased from neighbouring state and married to 2 brothers are becoming more common than ever.
Can we not as civilized educated society create a taboo around dowry & embarrass the grooms who flaunt gifts from in-laws, if they are not grateful enough to give any return gifts.
Ladies, seriously answer one question to your own conscience, if not openly "is the groom so bought from the market by your parents, seriously worth few Lakhs to few Crores that your parents spend on you marriage ? " Does that deal make your life in the husbands house any better than an educated & self-respecting lady's, who chose not to buy husband from marriage market ?? Are you not troubled by the financial stress your marriage puts on your parents & which depletes their reserves for retirement ??
I know I'll get comments from earning ladies who support there parents that they are helping parents manage there finances, but please note however great that achievement is, we are still a tiny minority. I know too many educated ladies living off their husbands income to think otherwise. plus we are few lucky ones to have lived & been given a chance of education. that leaves a gaping hole to correct the deeply skewing sex ratio.
Any innovative suggestions to help correct skewing sex ratio other than strict laws that check female sex determination / foeticide / infanticide / dowry burning; Reason, laws need a good infrastructure for implementation. we've failed miserably on that front. plus its the society's own responsibility to grow civilized not only Government's duty to herd us towards right choices.
