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Showing posts from February, 2013

Who is a greater "risk" for the parents?

As I traveled in South-Western Rajasthan, village after village I met communities in denial. There was either silence or they tried hard to convince me that the phenomenon of sex selection does not take place in their villages. Period! If you push, show data, ask them to ponder and after a long pause it was a tentative, "May be...some women in some other villages are doing it" and then quickly turning to, "It is the urban areas you see..not us". It was tiring to talk to these walls of silence! We met them in different social groups. They were Local Government members (PRI) as we know them in India) or the health workers like, Auxiliary Nursing Matrons (ANMs) and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA). Health, Nutrition and Sanitation Committee members and local doctors and others. "Although you say nothing is wrong, the data says otherwise" chipped in a NGO worker. "May be that's what God is doing. He is sending less girls to the world&quo