In the feel-happy planet that is India, where the most powerful politician is an Italy-born woman and where the newspapers are ecstatic over the appointment of an India-born woman as PepsiCo's CEO, there has emerged a news-spoiler that has not been greatly highlighted in the country's media.
This is surprising since the news is revolting and the Indian news channels are constantly in quest of sensational news items to hike up their television ratings.
A few days before India's 60th Independence Day celebrations, government officials in Punjab, one of the wealthiest states of India and also the birthplace of Bhangra music, discovered dozens of female fetuses dumped in an unused well in a town called Patran.
A quack, formerly serving in the Indian army, and along with his wife, was running an illegal maternity clinic where, assisted by a team of nurses, he 'helped' expectant parents determine the sex of their fetuses and aborted the female ones if the parents so desired. The fetuses were secretly thrown in the well.
Allegedly, this killing of would-be girls had been carried out for a number of years. The quack had established the clinic in 1987. It was only earlier this month when one of the nurses, upset over her salary, reported the matter to the authorities. The decomposed remains of placentas and fetuses were discovered in the well and the killings became public knowledge.
The news did not shake the nation. Why?
Daughters Are Not Lovely
Killing female embryos is an unacknowledged practice in Indian society. Everyone knows it is a crime and perhaps morally wrong, too. There are many who do not fall for it, but still it is acceptable. Just be quiet about it, please.
It is also true that many Indians love their daughters as much as their sons, yet the birth of a girl is an undesirable occasion in many families. Girls are seen as a burden on the household, a bundle of shame, and a thankless responsibility. They are perceived as offspring who, unlike the sons, would not carry on the family's name. Instead, a great amount of money would have to be arranged for their wedding dowries, which would benefit the homes of their husband's families.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Oh yes! I'm the Blogcritic of the Day! Thankyou.
2 - Nancy
Well, the upshot of female infanticide is being borne out right now (so to speak), by several areas in asia including India, China, etc., where the numbers of marriagable females are so low, most men either remain unmarried, or have to kidnap or abduct a woman. Humph. Talk about reaping what your own stupidity (or that of your parents) sows. If only the women involved didn't have to suffer also.
3 - Josh
Just more proof of why abortion in general sucks. Great article.
4 - joey resnick
whats the big deal?
5 - Bob
I am not sure of this because we do love Indians girls because of their beauty...
6 - Charles Paxton Martin
I am sure there would be no problem in having these babies adopted in other parts of the world. What is happening in India and other places is not abortion (which I do not oppose but do not personally like) but is, on this scale, mass murder.
7 - Pazhanikanthan
This is a great sin for those who do it. Being Indian, I feel depressed and worried to read such news happening in my country. This puts a wrong impression on India and its culture in the International community.
The only way to prevent this would be people becoming more literate. I believe, the fast changing economy in India will surely change this in a couple of years.
God Bless to irradicate this cruelty.
8 - CommonSense50
This is not new information. The program 60-Minutes did a segment on this very subject back in the 80's. Just because a county is progressing does not mean it abandons long-standing practices. It is a sad comment on a country with a rich history, but only when the perception of females as being important contributors will this horrendous practice change. However, almost 20 years after it was first reported, it is still an active practice.
9 - Krishnan
No country is perfect, neither is our country. What is more important is the readiness to accept the faults and work to overcome the problems.
In India, we recognize this as a grave problem. But it is complex as well. The population explosion has meant that families are getting smaller. Many feel that they need a son who can look after them in the old age; India still being a country where the parents are looked after in the old age by children.At the same time there are lot of families that long for a girl child (my own for 3 generations haven't had a girl and the day a girl is born would be one of great revelry)
A complex problem such as this does not have simple solutions. In my life time I hope this problem is solved.
10 - Snarkattack
That is so incredibly sad, and frightening too. I'm a bit of a sucker for a real-life happy ending; it's wonderful that that couple took the abandoned girl in.
I assume by the commenter above me that this problem has a lot to do with poverty and population increase? I do also agree that it sounds like it will not be solved in the near future either.
Surely there must be some ways First World countries can help, or would they not do this unless it were in their best interests (and that notion appals me)? Adoption was one someone above suggested, I do hope there are others.
11 - richter umali
It is pretty obvious that the dowry system in India and other parts of the world where the daughter's family are obliged to the groom's family for a fortune has contributed greatly to this horrendous practice among the poor and uneducated people. Why can't the Indian Government do something to discourage this traditional practice? This demeans the woman/bride greatly and diminishes the meaning of marriage.
12 - Mayank Austen Soofi
On the face of it, dowry system seems a simple case of an evil practice. However, there are many views to it. In Hindu families, a son traditionally inherits his father's fortune. A daughter may receive only one opportunity in her life to claim a share in the wealth of the family she was born into. This happens during the time of her wedding. Her dowry!
13 - Prem
India is a wonderful place. You could find almost all kinds of evils, and bliss. Female infanticide used to be rampant in Rajasthan, another Indian state, where new born girls were often buried alive. The boy-girl difference is, fortunately, unheard of in most parts of the country. For example, Kerala has a higher female population than the male population. Practice of dowry is a major contributing factor. Although this has been made illegal by the government, the practice goes on, and has even been encouraged by the educated, IT savvy, H1B holder Indian males.
14 - Gopal Krishnan
It is a fair criticism that you make of the subcontinent and other places where the lack of education, economics and old traditions all play a part in shaping or distorting a societies values depending on which of the three or all of the three factors are most demanding.
But the problem with such one sided criticism of something that is an issue andbeing fought but maybe not on the front pages of tabloids is that it is neither helpful nor balanced.
At least in India they discriminate. The killing of unbron foetuses is gender specific unlike the west where it is indiscriminate and where also the killing of people whether they be simply Muslims, suspected communists or Arabs is equall indiscriminate and for the same economic, political and traditional reasons.
In the west t is called abortion and a 'womans right'. How come in a world striving for equality, especially gender equality the Indian woman is denied that 'right' to abort her unborn foetus? or are Indian women inferior in the eyes of western women and their local mimics?
To assume that an Indian woman is incapable of making that decision is in itself racist and ageneralisation unworthy of any merit. India has a large population. Nearly a fifth of the world with a disproportionate share of its resources.
To assume that it is the male alone that makes that decision is in itself ridiculous and as unworthy or argument as the claim that men and not the mother in law that burns a bride for insufficient dowry.
Tut tut...or is it tit tit. An Indian women got the top job at Pepsi without burniong her bra and chanting slogans. Gloria Steinman, Bella Abzug, Naomi Wolf, Sheryl Hite and Germai Greer must all be playing with themselves vigourously at the news. I mean after all the myths they created their men chose a darkie woman who probably also enjoys screwing in the boardroom, aborting her foetus and managing Pepsi.
15 - nicoli smith
may god dawm these stupid people that practice this evil i have a daughter and if they didnt want a daughter they should have kept it in there pants murder is what i and millions of others call it plain and simple people playing god india should do more to stop this if it want the respect of the world because they have lost mine
16 - nicoli smith
hey gopal krishnan what are you an idiot you must be one of these people that accept and practice this same belive i and and alot of others are against abortion period and about indian women having equal rights open your eyes look around the only people that are holding them back is thier old fasioned husbands you sir scumbag are a racist and a moron come see me ill set you straight
17 - Paul Rogers
So what's the problem? Don't Indian women have a right to choose? First you want abortion on demand and freedom of choice. Then you criticize a culture for not choosing to kill the specific babies you would prefer killed. Make up your mind!
18 - Water God
The real trouble here is there own government.
The fact that the country is becoming a technical icon and about to grow huge is due to the greed of other countries that want to exploit the laws, lack of taxes and reap HUGE profits for them selves it has nothing to do with the country or its development it is all about money. Basically it is capitalizm at its finest.
The need to practice birth control and social programs to control population growth and educate people. I have two daughters and love them both dearly. Without women life as we know it would cease to exist. We cannot have a generation of test tube babies that would not be right. Murder is not right either and that is what this appears to be, just like China. Adoptions is a good thing but the down side is we cannot even really take care of all of our own people efficiently so bringing more people here just is not fare.
19 - Zena
Easy fix. Get ride of the dowries. The name caring is a cover-up. It really always comes down to the money.
20 - Raj
There is nothing traditional or religious about selective abortion of female foetus. Infact it is a recent phenomenon in India, because of the booming economy, easy availability of high technology and humungous consumerism. It is actually the semi-literate rich and the relatively well-to-do, especially in the rural or semi-urban areas who go for sex selective abortions making use of the ultra sound facility. They want smaller families, nuclear families - with no more than 1 or 2 kids - both boys.
This will change soon, and is changing, as girls compete with boys at academics, at engineering, at medicine, at business, which they are doing, and compete with boys for the same hi-tech jobs. Nature will even itself out. Technology will be the saviour.
And for those idiot who snorted about 'India losing his respect, world's respect etc. '... haha...let me tell you this. If your work that helps you earn your living is done on a computer - whether it is programming, accounting, system support, banking, r&d ....there are millions in India, young men and women, who want your job. Willing to work twice as hard and for quarter the pay, sitting in a cubicle in an office in India. Technology makes that possible.
We dont need your respect. Or aid. We just want your job. And we will get it. You have seen nothing yet. The greatest event if the 21st century will be the addition of educated Indians and Chinese to the same labor pool that US workers have been competing at for decades.
21 - ramond
I do not think we should buy things from India or drink Pepsi if they kill girls
22 - Zipit
can the author please give more details on the "the most wretched parts of the sub-Saharan Africa"
23 - Raj
"I do not think we should buy things from India or drink Pepsi if they kill girls"
Great logic.
An analogy would be,
World must boycott US goods till Americans make their daughters prostitutes.
[Edited]
24 - Raj
Anyway, if your grotesque generalisation about 'Indians are killing girls' is true, then why worry, soon all girls will be dead, and the 1.1 billion strong Indian people will become extinct, unless by then we develop an asexual method of reproduction.
25 - Jaquio
Gopal Krishnan..."Darkie woman"????? I'm gagging over here!! You would be part of that backwards population you speak of.
I guess you are a "White" guy huh Krishnan?? I gues YOU are not a "type" of "Darkie"? DON'T believe the hype!!. If I called you "Darkie" could you take that? I could never get with this Racist, color based faith you believe in. It's WRONG on it's face.
If you are the Educated class India's in BIG trouble. There is nothing about you that's better than me. I don't need to know you, all that I need to do is read what you write. Retarded!