Are the government’s campaigns against sex-selective abortions targeting the wrong people?
Scroll down to also read the Indian Prime Minister’s address to the National Meeting on “Save the Girl Child”, April 28, 2008, New Delhi Need to change mindsets: Activists protesting sex determination and selective abortion (Photo: V. Sudershan ) Now, even Amitabh Bachchan is speaking up for the “girl child”. Or so I am told. At a book launch in Mumbai last month, the Bollywood icon apparently spoke about the skewed sex ratio and unwanted girls. The five-star audience that had come to celebrate shining and successful India, the subject of the book, might have considered this a little odd. Success at ensuring that girls are not born is certainly not a reason to cheer. But it is also something people don’t like to be reminded of when they are fixated on “super power” India. So whether it is a statement by Amitabh Bachchan today or the Prime Minister yesterday, the “girl child” issue, or that of sex-selective abortions, keeps popping up with uncomfortable regularity. No amount of cheering
