India has killed 10 mln girls in 20 years - Renuka Chowdhury

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India has killed 10 mln girls in 20 years - Renuka Chowdhury

By Palash Kumar

Thu Dec 14, 1:57 PM ET. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Ten million girls have

been killed by their parents in India in the past 20 years, either

before they were born or immediately after, a government minister

said on Thursday, describing it as a " national crisis " .

A UNICEF report released this week said 7,000 fewer girls are

born in the country every day than the global average would suggest,

largely because female foetuses are aborted after sex determination

tests but also through murder of new borns.

" It's shocking figures and we are in a national crisis if you ask

me, " Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury told

Reuters.

Girls are seen as liabilities by many Indians, especially because of

the banned but rampant practice of dowry, where the bride's parents

pay cash and goods to the groom's family.

Men are also seen as bread-winners while social prejudices deny women

opportunities for education and jobs.

" Today, we have the odd distinction of having lost 10 million girl

children in the past 20 years, " Chowdhury told a seminar in Delhi

University.

" Who has killed these girl children? Their own parents. "

In some states, the minister said, newborn girls have been killed by

pouring sand or tobacco juice into their nostrils.

" The minute the child is born and she opens her mouth to cry, they

put sand into her mouth and her nostrils so she chokes and dies, "

Chowdhury said, referring to cases in the western desert state of

Rajasthan.

" They bury infants into pots alive and bury the pots. They put

tobacco into her mouth. They hang them upside down like a bunch of

flowers to dry, " she said.

" We have more passion for tigers of this country. We have people

fighting for stray dogs on the road. But you have a whole society

that ruthlessly hunts down girl children. "

According to the 2001 census, the national sex ratio was 933 girls to

1,000 boys, while in the worst-affected northern state of Punjab, it

was 798 girls to 1,000 boys.

The ratio has fallen since 1991, due to the availability of

ultrasound sex-determination tests.

Although these are illegal they are still widely available and often

lead to abortion of girl foetuses.

Chowdhury said the fall in the number of females had cost one percent

of India's GDP and created shortages of girls in some states like

Haryana, where in one case four brothers had to marry one woman.

Economic empowerment of women was key to change, she said.

" Even today when you go to a temple, you are blessed with 'May you

have many sons', " she said.

" The minute you empower them to earn more or equal (to men), social

prejudices vanish. "

The practice of killing the girl child is more prevalent among the

educated, including in upmarket districts of New Delhi, making it

more challenging for the government, the minister said.

" How do we tell educated people that you must not do it? And these

are people who would visit all the female deities and pray for

strength but don't hesitate to kill a girl child, " she said.

http://news./s/nm/20061214/india_nm/india280322