10 million girls killed by their parents in India

MrBrian

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.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061214/india_nm/india280322

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It's hard to read about things like this, it's sad to know that these things happen.

VINNY GOOMBA

sick fucks. I don't understand how anyone can hold their kid in their arms and kill it. Those fuckers oughta be burned alive.

pickupyourwill

This is truly an unfortunate tragedy. My heart goes out to all those unborn and newborn babies. I pray that those India-ans involved find a better, more peaceful way to deal with their traditional views.

surferdude

Unless you're are against abortion I can't see any reason why you'd care that people in India are having abortions.

hippiemom

surferdude wrote:

Unless you're are against abortion I can't see any reason why you'd care that people in India are having abortions.

I don't care a bit if people in India are having abortions. I do care that the girls who are born there are either murdered shortly after birth or forced to grow up in a culture that doesn't value them.

surferdude

hippiemom wrote:

I don't care a bit if people in India are having abortions. I do care that the girls who are born there are either murdered shortly after birth or forced to grow up in a culture that doesn't value them.

I think all people should have issues with the murder after birth. I'm a little more hesitant to condemn a society or culture that values women differently than North Americans do.

angelica

surferdude wrote:

I'm a little more hesitant to condemn a society or culture that values women differently than North Americans do.

I wonder if you might elaborate on this.

hippiemom

surferdude wrote:

I think all people should have issues with the murder after birth. I'm a little more hesitant to condemn a society or culture that values women differently than North Americans do.

If they value them so much differently that they're burying their newborn daughters alive, I'm not at all hesitant. This is a truly toxic culture.

In fact, I'm not at all hesitant to criticize any culture, including our own, that sees any given group of people as less worthy of life than any other, or that treats it's people as members of a group rather than as individuals.

surferdude

angelica wrote:

I wonder if you might elaborate on this.

I can't speak to the specifics of India. But looking at North America and the whole womens movememnt you can see we've changed our attitudes lots, mostly for the good (especially regarding spousal abuse and rape). However, it would be unfair to say that women weren't valued in North America prior to this movement. They were just valued differently. Motherhood and being a stay at home mom had a lot higher value then than it does now, as an example.

Given the little we know about the full story in India and how different people are valued and how their society works, I'm not prepared to adopt an ethnocentric point of view condemning them.

surferdude

hippiemom wrote:

If they value them so much differently that they're burying their newborn daughters alive, I'm not at all hesitant. This is a truly toxic culture.

In fact, I'm not at all hesitant to criticize any culture, including our own, that sees any given group of people as less worthy of life than any other, or that treats it's people as members of a group rather than as individuals.

Following this philosophy you must then be for a flat tax rate. If not then you are for treating rich people differently than poor people. It also measn you would be against income tested programs, where you income has to fall below a certain level for the program to be made available to you. Condemning people and a society for valueing things differently than the North American norm is way too ethnocentric for me.

angelica

surferdude wrote:

I can't speak to the specifics of India. But looking at North America and the whole womens movememnt you can see we've changed our attitudes lots, mostly for the good (especially regarding spousal abuse and rape). However, it would be unfair to say that women weren't valued in North America prior to this movement. They were just valued differently. Motherhood and being a stay at home mom had a lot higher value then than it does now, as an example.

Agreed.

Given the little we know about the full story in India and how different people are valued and how their society works, I'm not prepared to adopt an ethnocentric point of view condemning them.

I agree, basically. And I also understand how this will outrage and upset people at the same time. And that it's great to look into these issues and vent and figure out what we think and even consider what kinds of options there are. And then I get back to the ethnocentric view aspect. I also get concerned at the thought of anyone hinting at imposing our moral standards on others, as discerned by our sense of "right" and "wrong".

soulsinging

surferdude wrote:

Following this philosophy you must then be for a flat tax rate. If not then you are for treating rich people differently than poor people. It also measn you would be against income tested programs, where you income has to fall below a certain level for the program to be made available to you. Condemning people and a society for valueing things differently than the North American norm is way too ethnocentric for me.

yeah, the horror of having to pay a few extra bucks in tax is so similar to the horror of burying a newborn child alive becos it's a girl. you're one sick son of a bitch.

mookie9999

surferdude wrote:

Given the little we know about the full story in India and how different people are valued and how their society works, I'm not prepared to adopt an ethnocentric point of view condemning them.

What more do you need to know then the fact that they are suffocating there female newborns with sand or tobacco juice or even worse burying them alive?!?!? How would knowing additional details ever make this practice acceptable or to grant you a better understanding of how their society works? This is just fucked up and quite sickening.

mookie9999

angelica wrote:

Agreed.


I also get concerned at the thought of anyone hinting at imposing our moral standards on others, as discerned by our sense of "right" and "wrong".

Where in the world would this practice of murdering a child because they are female be morally acceptable?!?!?

Ahnimus

Definately some sociocultural differences there in India.

Ahnimus

mookie9999 wrote:

Where in the world would this practice of murdering a child because they are female be morally acceptable?!?!?

India :cool:

MrBrian

Men mostly make more money, women don't and in a poor country like India one can see why a couple would want a boy and not a girl. But the article also mentions that this is happening among the educated and more affluent areas. So like the article says, how do you tell them not to do it?
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angelica

mookie9999 wrote:

Where in the world would this practice of murdering a child because they are female be morally acceptable?!?!?

It appears as though we have a misunderstanding, in that I did not say that at all. I'm well aware many people find this reprehensible. I'm all for people expressing that to the full extent.

surferdude

soulsinging wrote:

yeah, the horror of having to pay a few extra bucks in tax is so similar to the horror of burying a newborn child alive becos it's a girl. you're one sick son of a bitch.

Connor, I think you need a drink. If this is you sober you may want to think it over. This is the philosophy Hippiemom brought to the table not me. I've condemned the murder of the girls (and all people). But I find it pretty funny when someone who's been through the experiences you have calls someone a sick son of a bitch.

Adopting an ethnocentric attitude and placing North American norms as the right ones means you fully back a society where men have a significantly shorter life expectancy than women, and subsequently their lives are valued less by North American standards. But then find a society that adopts this same thinking to women to be revolting. It's revolting all around.

angelica

Ahnimus wrote:

Definately some sociocultural differences there in India.

I'm agreeing with you, Ahnimus!

Ahnimus

At least they are on the right track identifying the causes.