Dr. Helekar,
I am skeptical of your referenced sex ratio of India (1.08) and (China
(1.21).
Governments are known to skew embarrassing census data by under- or
misreporting statistics, or misclassifying.
After all female - infanticide and feticide - are morally repugnant.
I refer you to this PLOS article (May 2008) where the study authors found a sex
differential not in keeping with the figures you quoted, and concluded that the
Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PNDT)
Act of 1994 which made antenatal sex determination and sex selective abortion
illegal in India, was ineffectual.
'Missing Girls in India: Infanticide, Feticide and Made-to-Order Pregnancies?
Insights from Hospital-Based Sex-Ratio-at-Birth over the Last Century'.
Mohit Sahni1, Neeraj Verma1, D. Narula1, Raji Mathew Varghese1, V. Sreenivas2,
Jacob M. Puliyel1*
1 Department of Neonatology and Pediatrics, St. Stephens Hospital, Delhi,
India, 2 Department of Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Science,
New Delhi, India
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002224
In Indian society which is still mainly rural and agrarian, where women are
marginalised - viewed as a liability, a drain on the family assets - would not
having been born be merciful and compassionate a fate than having to endure in
later life being trafficked and sold into prostitution, subjected to domestic
violence, burnt and killed for dowry?
India reports about 8,000 dowry deaths a year – an underestimate. This despite
the 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act.
I think you will agree that until the role of women in Indian society changes
violence against them will continue.
Best,
I. Nunes
On Sun, 7/3/11, Santosh Helekar <chimbel...@yahoo.com> wroteMr. Nunes,
>>>The male:female ratio I have given is for the population as a whole, as far
>>>as I know, not at birth or at any particular age. The greater lopsidedness
>>>of the male:female ratio in China indicates greater sex selection in
>>>abortions and infanticides. This problem has afflicted many countries,
>>>including South Korea and Japan, in addition to China and India. China's one
>>>child policy is immoral. India banned sex determination by ultrasound in
>>>1994. China did not ban it until 2004, after more than 40 million female
>>>babies were determined to have been lost.<<<
--- On Sun, 7/3/11, lyrawmn <lyra...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dr. Helekar,
>
> I am curious.
>
> Is not your referenced M:F ratio derived from live
> births?
> Therefore there would be no way in India especially of
> knowing how many female fetuses were sex selected for
> abortion.
> Sex determination ultrasound scans are widely available in
> major Indian cities. I assume similar availability
> of tests in China in view of her 1 child population
> control measure.
> The population 2010 (in billions) for China
> is 1.3, India 1.2, the World 6.7.
>
> Immoral policies of China you say?
> I am not so sure.
> India and China combined account for ~40% of the world's
> population today.
> best
> I. Nunes
>
