My daughter

Science seems to have rescued this baby girl,at least,from abandonment,but millions of girls across the country are not so lucky. On Friday a three-day-old girl was found abandoned in a Noida bus stand. And then there was the tragic story of Baby Falak, brutally beaten and left for dead,that gripped the nation for days. It is no surprise that UN data from earlier this year showed that India has performed badly when it comes to improving sex ratios. Indias infant mortality sex ratio is well below the developing world average,and even lower than Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Child mortality sex ratios are even worse about half the developing world average. It is getting worse,rather than better,suggesting that the Centre and state governments must think beyond targeting pre-natal sex determination tests as their central strategy to improve sex ratios.

Sex selective abortion is a serious problem in India,and has played a part in skewing sex ratios in the country. But the data on child mortality sex ratios,and this spate of abandonments,suggests that a policy limited to targeting sex determination tests will not work. The deeply-embedded prejudice against the girl child cannot be fought only by cash schemes either: well-off areas like South Delhi and Punjab have some of the lowest sex ratios in India. What we need is a wider strategy that addresses itself to attitudes.