New trends of killing the girl child | India Gazette

New trends of killing the girl child

India Gazette (ANI) Tuesday 20th March, 2012

The U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs report indicating that India is not a safe place for the girl child hit the headlines in many newspapers and news channels in the country.

Indian society has been known for its preference for the male child.

Among the 150 countries surveyed, including countries classified as LDR (Less Developed Regions), India has the highest rate of female child mortality.

According to this new data - an Indian girl between the ages of one and five years old is 75 percent more likely to die than an Indian boy, giving the country the worst gender differential in child mortality in the world. For every 56 boys that die in this age group, there are 100 girls who die in India.

However, statistically with the biological benefit that girls have over boys for survival at this stage, the standard ratio of child mortality for the rest of the world is 116 boys to 100 girls.

The question is, despite several efforts of the Indian Government at national as well as state level, why are we unable to arrest this trend? Why is the situation waning despite a number of laws to prevent female foeticide and numerous schemes to encourage families to have girl children? The answer, if any, will only reveal a picture dirtier than ever.

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