A recent UNICEF report finds that abortion rates for female fetuses have been rising in India despite the improved economic conditions, and actually increasing faster in richer states and among richer communities with access to medical technology that allows the determination of the sex of the baby. While India loves to flout their recent successes, this is a shocking failure of all spheres of life - the government, social groups and the populace at large. Needless to say, the federal government expressed "alarm" ... and yet they fail to do a damn thing. Want to stop this nonsense - become serious about prosecution. Declare a sex-based abortion as murder of highest priority, launch a special police force to target doctors who support the practice, and other enforcement actions. But also do more to improve the lot of women. Establish a variety of sops that make it financially beneficial to have girls, starting with (and this is hard for a conservative to say) subsidies for farmers for every girl child they have, and other aggressive actions.
Ok, that wasn't particularly specific, but my point is that a nation that can build a nuclear bomb, and grow its economy at 8% a year can come up with solutions for the female infanticide problem, if it was placed as a national priority!
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2 comments:
You're right. Who'd do all the cooking over there?
But can the government really do anything? One of the causes for this problem is due to people thinking that if they have a girl child, they will have to spend a fortune on her wedding. The govt made dowry illegal many years ago, but, people still give and take dowry. Even if there is no dowry, the pressure is on for massive wedding ceremonies, irrespective of the girl's family's finances. Who will or can change this?
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