Hear, hear.

this is really not worth of a nation that calls itself world's largest democracy and
also this reminds me of a review of a book that i posted sometime back on the news tab
Bare Branches
Can poverty drive somebody to such low depths ?

A N N A, I cannot agree with you more that this story is extremely saddening. The problem I have is what I should make with individual incidents like this as it will just lead to the cacophony of "All Indians are not evil" and "I love my daughter", and nobody is left any the wiser. I know that you have a day job and it is difficult for you, and maybe it is the scientist in me, but I feel like more statistics on the prevalence or incidence, or context will help me understand these behaviors better.

In any case, here are a few relevant thought provoking articles, which I've read in the past.

1. 100 million missing women by Amartya Sen, in the New York Review of Books.
2. Emily Oster's alternative explanation for about half of them.
3. Skewed sex ratios in India.
4. A fourth article which, I think, covers research by an Indian and a Canadian doctor, which I'm unable to find right now.

Rahul, thanks for being so understanding about my time constraints-- I'm grateful you were able to provide such relevant links. Anyone else with more information, please contribute similarly.

My inner asshole says that more statistics or context aren't necessary-- we've just spent far too long seeing women as a burden, not a blessing. And that's not just a desi sin. :(

Going to repeat what I wrote on the other thread;

In order for this to happen, that region of the world needs to rethink it's ideas about women in general - you know, the ideas that a woman is almost useless without a man by her side and her very personhood is defined by the men (of lack thereof) in her life.

Look, every culture/nation/religion/whatever has issues. Nothing or no one is all good or all bad. Yet, can we come to the conclusion that some issues are specific to some cultures/nations/religions more than others?

America has issues with women, no doubt. But we have had decades of hardcore feminist brow-beating to rid us of alot of things. Things have improved alot in terms of attitudes in just the past 50 years.

Whether or not I'm a man or woman or whether I'm married or have a man by my side is not really an issue here for anything in my life, from renting an apartment to getting the ceremonies done for my parents when they die. It is in India. Point blank.

And just see, even the death of this baby girl was about a man --- her future husband which her grand-dad did not think he could afford to get her!

Let's not be in denial. There is an underlying issue here, a thread that weaves together the garland of dowry, dowry-deaths, widow non-remarriage, infant gynocide, sex-selective abortions, and hell, even apartment rentals.

Wake up and smell the kappi.

Going to repeat what I wrote on the other thread;

...which I linked to, at the top of my final paragraph. You're right.

This sadness goes back to a central point that Gandhi struggled to convey...there are many Indias. There is an India that is pure feudal caste hierarchy..the India of Bandit Queen. This is an India that Shivaji would recognize if he were to come back in 2007. There is an India of supermodels, MTV, disposable incomes, raves, pre-marital sex; an India where elephants cross the road in front of Bentleys.

There is an India that would bury a 2 year old alive rather than feed her.

Is it even a possible dream to have common ground, common morals, a common humanity?

I am saddened by this article and by the fact that it no longer really phases me but I am very proud of your requirements for the comments. This is a worldwide problem despite the fact that this particular incident takes place in the sub continent. We should be outraged and I hope many are motivated to do more than they have in the past both in their homes and outside of it to make women be more than the bodies that nations and families are inscribed upon.

Huh,
More "All Indians are male chauvinists" BS from the American media. Lets see I guess women are highly valued in the US right,for Crappy Nonsense Network to pontificate to us?
Wrong,Here are examples of anti-women chauvinism and violence in the US

1) http://www.endabuse.org/resources/facts/
2) http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html

The first website cites a figure of 3 million women in the US per year and that 31 percent of married women in the US experience domestic violence at some point in their lives. Please, get over this BS of Indians dont value their women blah..blah BS.
And for extreme examples of anti-female child violence (i...e) CNN-worthy news in the US

1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Wiley
2)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadine_Lockwood

And here is more on the second case from the CNN itself
http://www.cnn.com/US/9609/09/starved.girl/

So,what conclusions do we draw now,that the US is a violent misogynistic society that treats women like $hit? Of course not,then why do the same for India? Dont get carried away by sensationalism

This is a worldwide problem despite the fact that this particular incident takes place in the sub continent

Worldwide perhaps, but amongst which groups?

Over and over again - I have had this conversation with people around me.

I really think - I do - India needs to spend a lot of money - and I do mean a lot - on EDUCATION.

I know it seems like a simplistic solution but getting education to your next generation will resolve a lot of problems. Educating the mothers - everyone knows this - will enable educating the kids.

It is also a way of removing the stigma (somewhat) attached with being a woman or a homosexual (I know, nothing to do with this topic but gets me everytime...) or a lower caste person.

You educate - you change the minds of people and removing the stigma attached with the above mentioned catagories. If you go around rural areas in India - you will be amazed to the difference in attitude women have about their daugthers. And it stems from what kind of education, if any, they have recieved (BTW - this is personal observation, I do not have studies to prove it and I understand that there maybe other factors at play).

Really, it pisses me off that in 2007 someone would think girls are burdens. But then again, there are always that few fanatics who just dont get it (which I'm not suggesting is the problem here)

I'm the eldest grandchild of my father's immediate family, and the eldest girl on my mother's side. My mother's parents were in India when I was born. Although I have a very close relationship with my father's parents *now*, my mother did tell me last year about how when I was born, my grandmother couldn't hide the tears in her eyes that came naturally because the first grandchild wasn't a boy, like she'd hoped for.

Thank you for posting the story ANNA - I felt the same way when I read it. It's a baby. The grandfather didn't even give the baby a chance. He didn't say he couldn't provide the child a good life, or that he couldn't bear to raise his grandchild in today's world. Neither would excuse his behavior, but the motivation would at least still be the best interest in his eyes for the child. No - he felt that *he* would be better off if he simply buried alive his grandchild. It's disgusting.

Every time someone (sometimes me) reprimands my 15-year old daughter for her highly "spirited" personality, I can't help but think that she was born on the streets of Kolkata (one can only guess), spared infanticide, and turned over to an orphanage at the tender age of 5 days.

Just look at her now!

My comment may not shed any more light on your post, ANNA, but it is surely inspired by it.

So,what conclusions do we draw now,that the US is a violent misogynistic society that treats women like $hit? Of course not,then why do the same for India? Dont get carried away by sensationalism

One could conclude that, why not?

Just like I'm going to conclude that the grandfather's own statement regarding why he did this reflects on the values (or lack thereof) in his culture, conclusions can similarly be drawn regarding domestic violence in the US. One would have to trace the reasons and whys of such DV - what belief system, if any, gives rise to it. Just like I trace the reasons and whys of what led this grandfather to do this to his grand-baby --- marriage is neccessary for girl in his culture. Without husband in her life, she will be suspect and lead a difficult, perhaps useless existence.

When crimes are committed, the mind-set and cultural belief systems of the criminals are usually always explored.

I think the issue not whether one nation treats its women better than some other nation. The issue is what are socio-economic causes that give rise to such aberrations in India and what should the "liberated" generation do so to reduce the so called "Bandit-Queen/Shivaji" kind of regions of India or in any nation.

One of my aunts has 3 beautiful, intelligent, and athletic daughters. The eldest has just graduated high school, and the youngest is 11 years old. People still won't stop asking my aunt and uncle when they're going to have a son and make their family "complete".

It is heartrending. More so because I still see this happening in my family. Education does not seem to make much of a difference. I wince each time I hear my mom or elders in the family express regret over the birth of a girl child in the family. They tell it right to my face. I wince and I bear it. I used to fight but over time my resistance has flagged and I take it in my stride. I now have a fierce motivation to adopt a girl child or children.

I always have had strong emotions reading about things like these and today your piece moved me to tears again.

Thanks Anna.

Ah, I found the references to the study I was looking for in 4:

10 million lost female births with very revealing data about the probability of a girl child conditioned on the sex of existing elder kids. There has been some dispute about this study, but I think most of it is about whether the situation has improved since the Indian Supreme Court banned sex selection in 2001. Probably the most depressing part of this particular study that I recall, which is not mentioned in the articles I link here (at least in my quick scan) is that the ratio gets more biased as the education of the mother increases! A little bit of counterpoint to Viki #11.

I think the issue not whether one nation treats its women better than some other nation. The issue is what are socio-economic causes that give rise to such aberrations in India and what should the "liberated" generation do so to reduce the so called "Bandit-Queen/Shivaji" kind of regions of India or in any nation.

Nope. It was because she was a girl and the grand-dad felt he could not afford her dowry. Now, if she had been a boy would he have done the same thing? Nope. Because dowry is not neccessary for grooms, and besides, when he gets old enough he can work to contribute financially to the family, instead of being married off at a high cost and sent to live and toil in the home of in-laws.

Like I said before, weeds need to be completely uprooted.

That means these attitudes about women, their place on the food chain, and marriage, need to be completely killed, poured acid upon, until they wither up and die forever. Poverty is the secondary issue here. The first is that she was a girl born into a poor family. When I start hearing about baby Indian boys being dealt with the same way, then I might change my mind on this issue. Till then, it's a gender issue.

I come from a family of all males and being a guy myself I can said that all i want are daughters. Girls in my family are cherished and adored in my family like they should be in all families.

And the amazing thing about dowry is that not only does the bride have to provide money to her in-laws, after she gets married she goes to their house to work as their maid - unpaid! So it's really like she is paying them to be their maid!

Now tell me, have you ever heard of someone paying their employer to be able to work?

The system makes no sense whatsoever.

Although there have been very interesting studies that show that couples with girl children are more likely to divorce than couples with boy children even in the U.S (by 5% in the U.S. to 25% in Vietnam). There are several theories as to why this might be the case.

Alright, I am done with the information overload. Alright, maybe it isn't overload, because nobody seems to be reading them anyway :)

"because nobody seems to be reading them anyway .."

No worries man..the slate article was very interesting...it'll churn round in my head for quite a while

The issue is what are socio-economic causes that give rise to such aberrations in India and what should the "liberated" generation do so to reduce the so called "Bandit-Queen/Shivaji" kind of regions of India or in any nation.

poverty makes people do desperate things. and when worth is assigned to gender, it leads to devastating and heartbreaking outcomes. it's sad that this grandfather saw his granddaughter as just another burden because she was a 'girl'. if she was a boy, perhaps she would have been spared in hopes of bringing in a dowry when he gets older and keeping the family afloat. modern india has not spread her wings to all the corners of her countryside. there are plenty of rural, traditional villagers like this that still adhere to the old rules. i'ts even further scary to think that this is not the first time that this has happened...or the last.

i agree, india needs to spend money on education and offering a way up for these people, because government food and aid assistance programs can only do so much.

my family is originally from kerala and i am always marveling at the literacy programs and incentive programs they have for ALL children, regardless of caste. of course there is poverty in kerala but it's not as staggering as northern parts of india i've noticed. also, women have many more rights, if not equal, in everything from inheriting property to attending school. i know, that the message i see being pushed across in kerala is that if you dont' do well in school or have some sort of career, you're not as attractive of a marriage prospect, male or female, and if you're female, not even if you know how to make sambar or recite Tagore. this was the generation my mother came from, and perhaps one of the reasons she did become a registered nurse in the Indian military, not get married until she was 28, and had no clue to make sambar until after marriage.

We're reading them, man.

I'm not sure I have anything to add here, except that I can't imagine the...the...what is the right word for it? there isn't one, so I'm making one up...stupignorrorocity...that would allow someone to do something like this.

If there should be hate-crime laws for people who do things out of bigotry, what should there be for people who commit atrocities out of a combination of poverty, ignorance, stupidity, and gender bias?

Gah, this is sick. I want to shake the idiot moron. It's a baby! It's a BABY! Aargh.

I disagree. I think socioeconomics (sometimes) plays a factor, but as Prabha mentioned, son-preference seems to span socioeconomic and education groups... and sadly, we see this replicated in the U.S. as well. There's a great master's thesis that came out last year on son-preference among northies in California; I wish it were online. =/

Yep, Camille, you are correct.

Brij on this issue and Amrita on the widow issue both assert poverty for the reason.

Then we would be seeing poor people world wide killing their baby girls, in-laws demanding dowry and not allowing widows to remarry at the same rate as is going on India, which we don't. So then we have to look at the cultural/religious factors that influence people's belief systems over there and draw a conclusion. Like I said, all cultures have their issues, but not all of the issues are the same, at the same period in time. This is clearly a gender issue primarily, and any other factor like economics is secondary.

Now, take a place like USA. Yes, it also has gender issues. But those gender issues are different than the above mentioned ones (not saying any better), and they take different forms, based on the cultural influences of the people. But dowry, dowry deaths and widow-non-remarriage are not amongst those issues.

So when we are talking about different cultures, different issues and belief systems come up. It's not all the same everywhere.

To reiterate what has been said before, for all the people going on about the glory of urban India, it is NOT JUST ABOUT SOCIO-ECONOMICS. IT IS AN INGRAINED SOCIETAL PREFERENCE. Worldwide, although more pronounced in India, China, and swaths of South or South-East Asia.

IT IS AN INGRAINED SOCIETAL PREFERENCE. Worldwide, although more pronounced in India, China, and swaths of South or South-East Asia.

I've never come across this so-called "ingrained" wide-spread societal preference outside of the regions you listed above.

Have you come across it in USA? Canada? UK? Germany? Sweden? Switzerland? Holland? Denmark? France? Belgium? Where?

"I disagree. I think socioeconomics (sometimes) plays a factor, but as Prabha mentioned, son-preference seems to |span socioeconomic and education groups"

Son-preference over girls is a bad thing and that has to be changed. Lets assume that this mental bias exists equally among the educated, socio-economically well off people as in uneducated/poorly educated, poor folks before anybody had a child.
Now what does the statistics say - Will the former indulge in female infanticide ( as in the news article ) more than the latter ?
I would be surprised if the statistic say that. I would be less surprised if it is the latter group which indulges in such morally reprehensible acts more than the former. This is not because that the first group is less of culprit than the second group in having that bias in the first place......

Widow Power, cf. comment #22.

On my way to the Charlotte airport tonight, I was listening to NPR, and as I was parking my car in the garage, I sat for a while. There was a lady talking about how food-for-hunger programs were a "blunt force" instrument for combatting child hunger, and that a far better tool for people in dire straits was...cash.

My own visceral reaction was, "no way." Something in me rebelled at the notion of just donating cash to poor people. Maybe a lifetime of being panhandled by people who'd take my money and spend it on a fix or a bottle of Thunderbird? Probably.

After some careful thought, I think I agree. Money is a good thing. As the lady pointed out, it gives people choice. Trust them to be smart enough to buy the right food. Or the tools to get what they need.

Now I'm flooded with questions. Is cash only useful for fighting hunger? At what point does a cash donation become dangerous or counterproductive, so people start looking after superficial needs and desires rather than their own dire straits? And why? Is it because somehow your own straits never seem so dire? Or do they sometimes seem so dire that nothing can be done to fix them, so you might as well have some fun, or feel better for a while? What's the specific cultural angle? Would a program that gave cash to poor people work in India? In the US?

I'm thinking about this in the context of a poor farmer who thinks it's a valid choice to bury his grand-daughter alive. Can this be fought? How? Really...how? Education? But...you can't educate a guy who's already past his schooling years and thinks this way. Not his whole clade. Maybe just him, sure. But everyone like him? And their families?

I think I need sleep. My brain can't quite wrap itself around this.

Salil's comment makes me ask: Have people here read Sachs' "The End of Poverty"? Is it worth reading?

Vile. How can someone do this to a baby???

Sick. I'm really upset right now.

Now what does the statistics say - Will the former indulge in female infanticide ( as in the news article ) more than the latter ?

Salil, the argument for cash instead of in-kind help has also been echoed throughout Latin America.

The baby, who had apparently never been fed, was discovered by a farmer near a village some 150km south of Hyderabad.

Lets assume that this mental bias exists equally among the educated, socio-economically well off people as in uneducated/poorly educated, poor folks before anybody had a child. Now what does the statistics say - Will the former indulge in female infanticide ( as in the news article ) more than the latter ?

I don't know how much has been done by way of studying this, but I would not be surprised if the statistics are similar.

I strongly recall that the study that I reference in my comment #18 actually showed that educated women were more likely to abort a female foetus than less educated women. I haven't read the technical Lancet article, so somebody here might want to in case it has a more nuanced and detailed picture.

Salil's comment makes me ask: Have people here read Sachs' "The End of Poverty"? Is it worth reading?

I think William Easterly's Elusive Quest... and White Man's Burden... are more interesting and also better rooted in empirical evidence. The latter is considered to be relatively polemical, but if read in the context of his first work his chagrin is more understandable. Both are thought-provoking and sum up the debates in development economics literature nicely.

Btw since this thread deals with female foeticide - I have a question albeit slightly digressing from the main topic of the news article. everbody more or less unanimously agree that "female" foeticide based on gender bia/preference is bad. What then one has to say about gender neutral abortion ?

everbody more or less unanimously agree that "female" foeticide based on gender bia/preference is bad. What then one has to say about gender neutral abortion ?

Actually Camille you stole the post that I was leading into :) Now there is whole lot of bias and prejudices that exists in the world which manifests in such criminal acts as in the news article. Now as a first step how to deal with those criminal acts. If it is done as in the form of murder by any group, to an extent there is always a chance you will be caught. Now what will not be caught ( and which will perpretrate the evil ) are those acts of female foeticide that go unnoticed and done in sly by the poor and the rich, educated and the illiterate. What can those acts of female foeticide be ? Somebody earlier posted that even in US there are large case of female foeticide. Now how does it occur here when you have such excellent legal/police system. I think it is probably through some kind of abortion. Then how to deal with female foeticide first, technically and legally in any country?

We should note that societal moral codes, which rationalizes or condones such acts and traditions, are also the internal moral compasses of people.
Those of us who feel outraged never grew up in this milieu, our moral compasses were moulded in different environs.

Education does not change these moral compasses, it frequently strengthens them due to increased rationalization; criticizing female infanticide even amongst educated people is futile. Even intellect is no match for moral compasses.

Instead of focussing on educating children who are are already moulded in such environs (who would then grow up to be educated female infanticiders) we should focus on the moulding itself.
Social-Conservative theory of forcefeeding moral and values education is the only way.

Regarding abortion

Gender neutral abortions should be a legal option, though perhaps discouraged through education/awareness/alternatives.

Gender biased abortions can be stopped by making it illegal to reveal the gender of the child beforehand, and enforcing that law.

I'm sure it will be dimissed as NRI or ABCD uppityness, but let's all agree to vocally boycott weddings back in the desh where dowries are exchanged. This is certainly one of the contributing factors to this pathology.

Sorry that I took so long to join the discussion. I would not giving this thread enough respect if I commented from my phone.

I really think - I do - India needs to spend a lot of money - and I do mean a lot - on EDUCATION.

I have to agree with you on this one. And that is what I was telling my friend. Things like this seem to happen more with the "uneducated". Think about why Kerala does not find itself in the news for such atrocities.

Interestingly enough, my dad was telling me today afternoon about how in some North Eastern state, female infanticide has left people with no brides.

Besides education, the mindset needs to change. Dowry in certain sections of the country has changed from what it used to be, to a "I can afford this" and "This is my chance to show off my wealth" kind of situation.

As long as there are people who are willing to give dowry (no matter what the reason) there will always be people to receive it.

And all this will trickle down to what just happened.

I wish they had given her to me.

We should note that societal moral codes, which rationalizes or condones such acts and traditions, are also the internal moral compasses of people. Those of us who feel outraged never grew up in this milieu, our moral compasses were moulded in different environs.

Education does not change these moral compasses, it frequently strengthens them due to increased rationalization; criticizing female infanticide even amongst educated people is futile. Even intellect is no match for moral compasses.

Instead of focussing on educating children who are are already moulded in such environs (who would then grow up to be educated female infanticiders) we should focus on the moulding itself.
Social-Conservative theory of forcefeeding moral and values education is the only way.

Exactly!

This is what I was trying to get at in my pointing out of different cultures having different issues and the different forms that those issues take in those cultures. All are not the same.

Education does not eradicate the cultural impressions on the minds of the educated people neccessarily. Rather what tends to happen is that those educated people will now use their increased technology to further advance the very same mindsets -- as in using sonagrams and abortions as opposed to birthing a girl and then killing her.

So that's what I was getting at when I said weeds need to be destroyed

at the root.

Something very deep in that culture has to change.

I know people have mentioned education here as a solution to the problem of infanticide (and we have had several well-thought and well-supported rejoinders to the contrary. In her new book, Nussbaum hits the nail on the head when she brings to the kind of the education that is offered to Indian children (she makes this point to account for a different phenomenon entirely, but I think her insight works in this context too). It is not that the Indian educational system is without merit - it just seems that we leave out some crucial skills that leave the "moral compass" damaged/under-developed/under-nourished:

The educational culture of India used to contain progressive voices, such as that of the great Tagore, who emphasized that all the skills in the world were useless, even baneful, if not wielded by a cultivated imagination and refined critical faculties. Such voices have now been silenced by the sheer demand for profitability in the global market. Parents want their children to learn marketable skills....

Indeed, the desire for upward mobility/economic and social comfort (and who among us does not want it for ourselves?) combined with dire circumstances forces people to make reprehensible rationalizations. I can say without reservation that this person's deed was condemnable, but I have a nagging feeling that other people growing up and living in the same might have acted the same way. They may have chosen merciful means of killing, or wished that poor little girl dead; but the sad fact that she was unwelcome is undeniable. There are few solutions, but this article describes a pilor program in China about monetary and social incentives for parents of girl children in China. The long-term success of the program remains unclear.

Sidebar: a sociological study of Muslims in India by Zoya Hasan and Ritu Menon shows that Muslim women are better able to negotiate for resources and education for their daughters within the family. The reason: perceived economic discrimination and bleak employment for their brothers. Parents feel that if their son is not likely to gain all that much from his education, then why not take your chance on the daughter.
Related article:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2001/stories/20030117002408700.htm

It's hard to look at a little girl and not feel hurt, knowing that all of this goes on with so many like her. I think changing peoples attitudes requires a lot of communication. I mean really making a point to stop people when they remark on the "misfortune" of a female child, or when a female child is looked down upon for not living up to some disgusting "ideal" of beauty, or passivity and submissiveness. I've argued with so many, over what many think are trivialities, yet I much prefer being that pain in the ass, rather than to sit by and allow those things to be said unopposed in my presence. It's important to actually make your point in a way that the other person can appreciate, or I think at least try to. That's a small step, but really changing the economic opportunities for women and prosecuting these cases of abuse, and making people realize what a thing of pride it is to have a daughter are so important. I know there are people all over tackling these issues in those and various other ways. Much like these negative ideas about female children are passed along by reinforcing them through everyday conversation and action, I believe that the opposite can also be achieved by the same means (in addition to other very necessary methods, but at least everyone can do this much).

And that's not just a desi sin. :(

I can say from agonizing personal experience, it's very much a "sin" in latin communities too. You nailed it.

Even amongst those with lots of education, this mindset that "having boys is better" still exists though, so I'm not sure education is the cure.

Yesterday, some 'educated' Chilean auntie (who crashed our family picnic), was chiding my prego sister about "Why don't you know the baby's sex yet?", causing my blood to boil.

"They don't wanna know, because they don't care, ya asshole!"

Widow power - How do you propose to change the culture in India that is complicit in female infanticide ? This is a serious question - not a rhetorical one. Please dont say the government - coz the State is comprised of people who harbour the same medieval beliefs. I am quite keen to know some new thoughts.

Aminocentesis is illegal in India but that has not reduced gender based abortions. How does one prove that an abortion is gender neutral or gender based? I wonder how many know that abortion was made legal in India in 1971 via the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act ie well before Roe v Wade. Incidentally it was never illegal before that either.

Floridian - We have been looking to adopt an abandoned desi girl. Was it a long drawn out process?

and as the man who single-handedly destroyed whole economies during his tenure in the World Bank/IMF, I have a hard time taking his argument seriously.

This is the reason I have not been motivated to read the book so far. The only thing that seems to have come through completely unscathed through Sachs' tenure is his supreme self-confidence (arrogance). "Why did Poland succeed? Because of me. Why then did Russia fail? Inspite of me. But hear what snake oil I now have to peddle for Africa!"

White Man's Burden... are more interesting and also better rooted in empirical evidence. The latter is considered to be relatively polemical

I hadn't considered White Man's Burden seriously, because I'd also heard that it was just a book long rant against Sachs (I exaggerate, of course), but your comment makes it seem more interesting.

Widow Power,

Just like I'm going to conclude that the grandfather's own statement regarding why he did this reflects on the values (or lack thereof) in his culture

HUH?! Look, this grandfather is an unstable person. The fact that any newspaper or media outlet is publishing his "reasons" and trying to make him look like a victim of his culture is an absurdity -- we don't let crazy people explain themselves because their explanations are worse than worthless -- they rot your brain if you listen to them try to excuse themselves of their actions. If culture were truly a problem, no Indian jury would convict him and the police wouldn't have even arrested him if so. If the Indian jury finds him innocent, then talk about the culture being bad because the jury is populated by (presumably) normal people. Don't try to quote an insane criminal who'll be spending life in prison as some sort of example of normal Indian culture. Don't try to write about him as if he's an Indian first and other things later, he's first and foremost an incarcerated and unstable person pending prosecution for attempted murder, that he's Indian is irrelevant. This horrible culture you speak of arrested him, will prosecute him, and given the slow-as-molasses backlog of court cases this insane grandpa is going to rot in jail. I hate when the actions of FELONS are used to paint a picture of culture - the Indian police, the Indian jury, the Indian farmer who rescued the girl, these are all people who hate that baby-killer as much as we do, and they -not- the baby-killer awaiting sentencing are representative of Indian culture.

Widow Power,

Just to follow up – when a crime against the Indian penal code is committed, the long arm of the law does catch up, even in India. Don't delude yourself into thinking that crimes against women and children are legal or acceptable in India. Like with an illiterate population, many people don't know how to ask for help from the law, but don't pretend that we blog-readers are privy to information the Indian police are unaware about. If -YOU- are aware of a specific crime in India by reading cnn or whatnot, it's obvious that the Indian police are aware and have already investigated it and if the perpetrator is found have made the arrest. This is true with illiterates in the U.S., yes, our mighty United States, where uneducated/illiterate women, many of whom are illegal immigrants, allow their boss to sexually abuse them because they are unaware how the legal system works.

This story is not newsworthy precisely because it's a SOLVED crime. The police apprehended the criminal, he confessed, case closed. If you want to pine over the horrors of Indian society, pick some UNSOLVED cases and try to make progress on it. It frustrates me to no end to see armchair moralists like you with 20/20 hindsight about how a crime -gasp- was committed. Can crime rates be lowered? Sure, it costs money. Can crime rates be eliminated? No. As India gets more money, it can tackle the issue of lower crime rates; for those crimes money cannot prevent, a good police force and justice system will at least hand down appropriate punishments. There ARE cases where the guilty have walked away scott free -- especially regarding drunk rich kids driving over paupers in the streets of India. Focus your attention on problems that need solving, not on solved ones.

They should bury the grandfather alive VANISHING style.

Pravin,

They should bury the grandfather alive VANISHING style.

The death penalty is allowed under by Indian courts, but the only method acceptable is hanging. That said, I don't believe in the death penalty when incarceration accomplishes the same end-result of 'never seeing or hearing him again'. Execution is unnecessary, and it's non-reversible if new evidence surfaces.

To widow power,

to echo both rahul and others, this is worldwide. the constant dominance and preference for male children and the existence of a patriarchal society cannot be ignored or dismissed. (if you need a compelling "euro" culture example think of marriage for a second as something that always has been an expression of women as property given from father to man and the legal processes/descriptions used)

To those who suggested education- it works. we're not talking about learning how to be a cpa, we're talking about learning how to think critically about the society we live in and what it assigns worth to. its not necessarily how to learn economics but also how to think critically.

Revolution, anyone? I'm not kidding. As "commie" as this sounds, substantive shifts in how certain parts of Indian society views its girls and women can occur with mass upheaval. And you have to start with the women, with education - culturally-relevant education. I say that because many Indian women are complicit in female infanticide, although we'll never really know for sure (because I'm guessing that many women resist against it in their own minds, but are forced into doing it by their husbands and extended family). Even still, the aunts and grandmothers are complicit in garnering a campaign in favor of aborting the female child.

In addition to education and a televised revolution, legislation has to be enacted and enforced (insert laughter here, I know). I really don't buy the idea that laws and punishment do not deter anyone from doing what they want to do i.e. rape. Who knows how many American men, for example, do not rape women because they know there's a real chance they'll serve time for it? I highly doubt it is because of the cultural superiority of the American man or his deep respect for women - one look at Maxim magazine or any male-centric publication which treats women as sex objects and there's no doubt that to many men, women are still just a piece of meat to pulverize.

It's just really heartbreaking. It's been a heartbreaking couple of days. Sigh.

ANNA, thanks so much for bringing this story to light, it has to be said again and again. But I am going to have to slightly disagree with you on one thing - it DOES matter if "this makes us look bad" or not. I'm so not trying to defend those knee-jerk reactions against any sort of anecdote or trend covered by the Western press which is critical of Indian society; that is chauvinistic and dismissive, to say the least.

BUT - I am in favor of a reasoned approach to highly sensitive subjects like this. Only because in the face of such severity and cruelty like this story illustrates, I've seen countless Western feminists slam their fists down and shriek, "This is disgusting and vile and I DON'T CARE if this makes me seem racist or intolerant, it has to stop. We have to do something about this." I am strongly alarmed by no holds barred reactions like this because they often propose blanket solutions to very complex problems they are unknowledgeable about. A lot of these people just don't get that you cannot combat hate with hate, that you cannot "educate" women with culturally irrelevant models, that you cannot cast all men in that (usually) developing society as a complicit sexist pig, that you cannot assume that women in developing societies will welcome you into their arms as "sisters."

Or, in the extreme, that you cannot bomb the hell out of a society in the name of women's liberation.

I'm not saying this to be incendiary, but it is a fact that one rationalization employed in the bombing campaign against Afghanistan a few years ago was that it would free women from the shackles of oppression. Well, it certainly was certainly "liberating" in one regard - if by liberation you mean leaving thousand of men, women and children dead.

I guess what I am getting at is the interconnectedness of media representations, public opinion and policy. One CNN article isn't going to start a war, but these articles do affirm and re-affirm beliefs about India. And we do have to worry about how it makes us look - just look at some of the vile comments people left under the CNN article about widows.

To me, it's about being balanced and working on multiple fronts. The state of many widows in India and of many girls and women in India - millions of them - is something we have to approach with earnestness in whatever capacity we can, being away from India. If that means contributing towards girls' education - as small as donating money towards one school seems - I'll do it. But, like I've experienced in the past, having a Western feminist scream in my ear, "Aanchal, you're too distracted with all this media represenation bullshit - the cause of female infanticide is TOO DAMN DIRE to be nuanced. I'm disgusted!" is not productive and frankly, offensive. Because I care about women's rights worldwide, and I care about girls and women in India, but I also care about Indians, and the men in family who treated my mother with respect and love, and the little boys in my family who will grow up learning the right things - I care about them too.

There's no limit to compassion. I just wish some more feminists I work with would understand that bombing the heck out of Iraq is also a women's issue, and would express the requisite amount of outrage at that too. I'm not talking about a bumper sticker; I'm talking about the same bursting blood vessels that I see when we talk about female infanticide and dowry in India. I wish I saw some of that when we discuss the raping and pillaging and outright slaughter of thousands of Iraqis. Something more than a trite, "Yeah, Bush sucks. He's dumb."

What was the father of the baby doing all the time? And why was the grandfather (not the parents) of the baby supposed to take care of his grand daughter? Unanswered questions...

Please !Puhleaze people all over the world .Puhleaze stop making babies if you cannot afford to give them good life.
puhleaze stop cribbing about the inflation , the rising costs of insurance and similar bs that are denying your family two square meals a day.
When will people understand that a tonne of contraceptives are cheaper than the smallest family.

This story is not newsworthy precisely because it's a SOLVED crime.

SST, it is newsworthy. Often the news source reporting about this issue is not worthy, but this story is worth bringing to the forefront.

to echo both rahul and others, this is worldwide. the constant dominance and preference for male children and the existence of a patriarchal society cannot be ignored or dismissed.

Bidi, I understand where you are coming from, and I'm really not trying to be a contradictory mess, but my fear with statements like this is that it conflates all instances of male preference as more similar than not. My point being, yes, patriarchy and the valuing of male lives over female ones (and maybe even male preference, I'm not educated enough on this as a global phenomenon to comment authoritavely) is a worldwide phenomenon, but female infanticide is occuring on such a large scale only in India and a few other countries. There may be a preference for males in other countries, but they are not aborting their girls at the alarming and saddening rate that India and a few other countries are.

My whole beef with this issue is how some people are reacting to this phenomenon - unnuanced, racist, monolithic statements about Indian culture which almost make male preference out to be some immutable mental characteristic, while ignoring very real factors like economics, history, etc.

Maybe in real life this will all play out in a less-than-nuanced, confrontational manner - revolutions and social movements are all about grand gestures - but that doesn't mean the ideological underpinnings of the movement have to be steeped in blind, uncalculated rage. Rage is important in that a visceral reaction is always better than a detached one, but it cannot be the be all and end all of a movement.

i don't think education has to do much with the issue. my husband, a MBA and NRI, won't let me adopt a girl-child. why?? he thinks people will think we are having "problems" concieving a child. Whenever a case on infanticide comes up he comments "what the hell is wrong with parents wanting to have a boy?" no matter of explaining, facts and figures make him see the evil in it. then when we talk about rape or sexual assualt he always blames the girl "maybe she wasn't wearing anything provocative; but the girl who walked by might be, or he might have gotten aroused by a movie" that far off movie star can be blamed for the rape but not the guy who committed it. there are lots of people around us who have such attitude. they talk about women's liberation n all but when it comes to their own family they can't do it.
before marraige i thought no one in this century thinks in this manner. but sadly people are still stuck in the 17th century and lot more than we can ever imagine.

The dowry was a huge problem in medieval Europe as well. What's more, lots of people knew it was a problem. Clerics railed against it, burgers complained about the burden it imposed about them, but the system was so ingrained no one was able to stop it.

In medieval Europe, infanticide, which was illegal, was accomplished by the adult rolling over the infant in the bed, which smothered it (in poor families, beds were shared). No one could prove it wasn't an accident. Again, clerics knew what was going on, and preached against it, but the economic reality of poverty and large families kept it going.

To stop infanticide, you need to (1) end the institution of the dowry; and (2) somehow change the economic realities of the peasantry. Neither will be easy.

Rahul,

it is NOT JUST ABOUT SOCIO-ECONOMICS

_______________________________________

You are conflating the central issue here--I agree it's not just about economics (the Marxist--materialist view)--
it is about society--don't conflate the two--what else is there, after all...
the point is about a societal practice that should be stopped--full period.

the reality of any indian family is that a boy is any day welcome more than a girl and expecting dowry is birthright. education has not and cannot guarantee a change in these mindsets.

I think the issue not whether one nation treats its women better than some other nation.

Agree with Brij, bidi, FOBGuy, and especially thank sic semper tyrannis very much for nailing the communications problem. Widow Power, you are reacting after the fact to foreign, second-hand reporting of a crime for which the prosecution of all possible claims appears to have been completed. Besides underlining (I hope) the point so cleanly made by sic semper tyrannis, I'm extending what I said in the last thread to say a) that preferential treatment of males is not something that characterizes any particular culture, and b) the article we are discussing here seems to be part of a media campaign we glimpsed and some of us discussed in the other thread, and which is designed to prepare individual Americans to regard Indians with distrust and disgust, with encouragement from shamed American Desis, just at the moment when the two nations are preparing to alter their relationship. I don't think the story of Jon Benet Ramsey was broadcast in India, for instance, nor that Indian or American ex-pat readers and tv audiences in India are primed to slaver over crime news about America, so the forces deployed by media engaging in this campaign are far greater and far more damaging than any possible counterpart and the outcome will therefore be unfair.

Have you come across it in USA? Canada? UK? Germany? Sweden? Switzerland? Holland? Denmark? France? Belgium? Where?

Widow Power, That's a very small "Where?" that you cite, in terms of land mass and population both, but even so, if you look at some early literature from those countries, I'm sure you will find a preference for male children and adults embedded in those cultures too. This has to do with more easily observed and even simple forms of physical strength in every stage of male life-- because men don't bear children and become temporarily fragile and dependent as adults.

Interesting comments from Aanchal / Amrita / sic semper. Few things are more annoying than an Armchair Western feminist - many of whom have a patronizing attitude.

Floridian has put his money where his mouth is - by adopting an orphan girl child.

I wonder how many of the commenters are willing to take the pain to adopt a baby girl and raise her to be a member of the 'model minority'. Easier to rant and rave!!

Sushmita Sen - a well known Indian actress / former Miss Universe adopted a baby girl though she was single. Good thin. Wish there were more people like her.

I wonder how many of the commenters are willing to take the pain to adopt a baby girl and raise her to be a member of the 'model minority'. Easier to rant and rave!!

It's a pre-req for whom I'll marry, just like having a vegetarian household and no guns in the home. I've had more problems with getting people to agree to the latter two, not that you asked. :) I've wanted to do this for years. Some of us are willing, don't see it as a pain, but a blessing.

It is easier to rant and rave, but I don't want to condemn people for at least experiencing outrage...better that than indifference. If it means calling someone out the next time some stupidity is uttered about, "Oh, it's a girl? Too bad..." then those ranters and ravers are making a difference, too. Madguru is right, each of us can do something, right here, right now.

My mum's cousin is now in the process of adopting her third baby girl. The first time round she caused quite a stir, though not because the baby was a girl but because apparently adopting is still a taboo in India.

What's a ballpark figure for adopting a child from india?

Girls in Kerala somehow have it better,with Matrilineal castes where the properties are handed from Mother to daughter.I don't have the stats,but Kerala is generally accepted to have more girls vs. Males compared to any other state.

Karthik on July 5, 2007 10:14 PM ·
Interestingly enough, my dad was telling me today afternoon about how in some North Eastern state, female infanticide has left people with no brides.
I think you are wrong there. North Eastern states generally have a healthy female population, whereas states with more of a macho-agrarian culture like Punjab,Rajasthan,Haryana have a severe shortage of females nowadays that Haryanvis come down south to marry Kerala girls.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20070628021356&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0
There was also an expose done by an Indian TV channel recently of a ultra sound clinic in punjab which was performing abortions on female babies and throwing them into the water well in the backyard.

According to Indian tradition, a father cannot attain moksha (salvation) unless he has a son to perform his last rites...combine this with the economic pressure to limit the size of the family,female babies are generally seen as a undue burden. hence the combination of tradition constrained by economics is disastrous for female babies.

I'm the person who talked about foeticide in the U.S., but I want to reemphasize that the study was for DESI families. Some were 2nd gen, most 1st gen. I bring this up because I don't think the same levels of gender-biased infanticide exist in the same degree in the U.S. if you take things in aggregate.

I think they've banned the ultrasound in Punjab (except for emergencies) to help discourage gender-based abortion. Part of me is conflicted on this, because I wonder what is worse -- to have a child and kill it, or to abort it? It's not like these same families aren't getting rid of their girls eventually, and I've met so many women who are shunned or mistreated for having girls instead of boys (because of course it's the woman's fault that she doesn't have a son). The stories you hear are awful -- parents immunizing only one child (the male) and refusing to immunize the girl, leaving the girl-child unattended in hot cars, etc. etc. And this happens in the U.S./Canada among desi families as well.

I'm always thankful that my parents, especially my dad, wanted to have girls. I really think it changed the tone of how we were brought up. Not saying that there weren't implicit differences (e.g. stricter curfews, etc.), but at least I didn't feel like my parents thought I was a mistake or regret in their lives. Conversely, my dadi always told me how worthless I was from the moment she met me (at 2). As soon as my younger brother was born she used to tell me that my parents would give me away because they didn't need girls anymore, and she was purposefully negligent when she would babysit me when I was little (like age 2-4) in the hopes that I would just "accidentally" kill myself. In retrospect it's sickening, but the sad truth is that many of the aunties/uncles around her agreed. The only time she shut up was in front of my parents because she knew they wouldn't put up with her sexist hatred.

I hadn't considered White Man's Burden seriously, because I'd also heard that it was just a book long rant against Sachs (I exaggerate, of course), but your comment makes it seem more interesting.

According to Indian tradition, a father cannot attain moksha (salvation) unless he has a son to perform his last rites...combine this with the economic pressure to limit the size of the family,female babies are generally seen as a undue burden. hence the combination of tradition constrained by economics is disastrous for female babies.

Again, I don't buy the economics argument. If this were the case, there would be greater parity among which children are killed. While girls would probably still be killed more often than boys, the skew would not be so pronounced. Furthermore, families of all socioeconomic backgrounds are killing their girls. I don't think economics is the driving factor here. I'm sure that it skews if all else is equal, but education and class really don't seem to make as much of a difference as attitudes and norms do.

Rob, socioeconomics is a combined term because it is talking about the cultural processes, resources, etc., that come from a certain economic privilege/class background, etc. I don't think Rahul argued that there isn't a societal issue; he argued that class is not the driving factor in female infanticide.

."Clerics railed against it, burgers complained about the burden it imposed about them, but the system was so ingrained no one was able to stop it."
Yeah, there were things like that going on in Europe. In most countries there were more boys than girls (beyond the normal, slight skew in favor of male births) right up until the Industrial Revolution around the middle of the 18th century. The disparity was more pronounced in well to do families than poor ones. William L. Langer, "Infanticide: A Historical Survey," Hislory of Childhood Quarterly l(1974):353-65; "Further Notes on the History of Infanticide" History of Childhood Quarterly 2(1974): 129-134.

Pooja said:

i don't think education has to do much with the issue. my husband, a MBA and NRI, won't let me adopt a girl-child. why?? he thinks people will think we are having "problems" concieving a child. Whenever a case on infanticide comes up he comments "what the hell is wrong with parents wanting to have a boy?" no matter of explaining, facts and figures make him see the evil in it. then when we talk about rape or sexual assualt he always blames the girl "maybe she wasn't wearing anything provocative; but the girl who walked by might be, or he might have gotten aroused by a movie" that far off movie star can be blamed for the rape but not the guy who committed it.

Pooja, wow.

No offense, but how are you still married to this guy?

melbourne desi said:

Interesting comments from Aanchal / Amrita / sic semper. Few things are more annoying than an Armchair Western feminist - many of whom have a patronizing attitude.

When I read this story--I don't do so as a Westerner. I read it as a woman empathizing for the horrendous treatment of a baby who's only crime was being born a female. Yes, horrible things happen to women and children in this country as well--but the grandfather (and so many others before him) have openly admitted that it was simply because of the child's sex.

Shall we sit back and do nothing?

Yes, women's standing is better in Kerala but still much needs to be improved. In my own family some 40 years back, my grandfather wouldn't marry his daughters or nieces to anyone that asked for dowry...I am heartened by such things. But domestic violence is still prevalent in Kerala and women still suffer a lot from "eve teasing" and despite education, their independence is hampered still by oppressive attitudes toward women. As a Kerala women you are encouraged to become a doctor but if you walk on the beach by yourself during the day, you could still be considered loose. And like I said, domestic violence in Kerala is rampant, and unfortunately for the women, their families, out of shame, often do not help the women and feel it is still something she needs to suffer/endure to keep the family together - b/c what life will she have if she is divorced or lives without a man? And what shame she will bring on her own family?

My uncle said to me in Malayalam this interesting metaphor --- I am writing the translation in English - he said, "in india women are like a leaf that falls on a thorn. Both the thorn and leaf are complicit in their connection, but only the leaf is scarred/torn. The thorn, the man, is left unashamed, unhampered, unchanged, but it's the leaf, the women, that carries all the responsibilities and repurcussions"; Needless to say I can apply this outside of India as well.

But of course there are women and men who do not follow this mainstream interpretation of a women's role. My younger sister, right now is in Kerala doing research on this organization ---- amazing organization started by Kerala women --- http://sakhikerala.org/

It is really sad. We and the rest of the world close our eyes and pretend what we don't see does not affect us. No one is ready to face the harsh realities of life.

http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html

The truth is atrocities against women have affected us all one way or the other. My mother, for one, who suffered all her life at the hands of an insensitive husband, held on strong for her children, to keep the family together and prayed every day for a better life. She passed away a couple of years ago, God bless her soul, we are thankful for all her sacrifices and happy that she is in a happy place now. But we can never forget the circumstances she had to endure and are scarred for the rest of our lives, that is one wound which will never heal.

Cliff - thanks for sharing. I'm so sorry for your mother's suffering. I have seen this happen to other women in my life who are close to me. I am curious - Do you have a South Asian cultural background?

Widow power - How do you propose to change the culture in India that is complicit in female infanticide ? This is a serious question - not a rhetorical one. Please dont say the government - coz the State is comprised of people who harbour the same medieval beliefs. I am quite keen to know some new thoughts.

Below Bidi says education would work. By that he means social awareness programs.

To those who suggested education- it works. we're not talking about learning how to be a cpa, we're talking about learning how to think critically about the society we live in and what it assigns worth to. its not necessarily how to learn economics but also how to think critically.

However, gender based issues have to do with sexuality and sex ed is not allowed in Indian schools. Indian society is in denial about alot of things. If it's not talked about then it doesn't happen sort of mentality. The issue of women and their place in modern Indian culture is something that I don't think will be on the syllubus of public schools there for a long time, although it should be. So when you talk about education, first be aware of what kind of education these kids are getting, and think about how difficult it would be to introduce awareness programs on issues like these, if even basic sex ed is considered controversial.

I know people have mentioned education here as a solution to the problem of infanticide (and we have had several well-thought and well-supported rejoinders to the contrary. In her new book, Nussbaum hits the nail on the head when she brings to the kind of the education that is offered to Indian children (she makes this point to account for a different phenomenon entirely, but I think her insight works in this context too). It is not that the Indian educational system is without merit - it just seems that we leave out some crucial skills that leave the "moral compass" damaged/under-developed/under-nourished:

The educational culture of India used to contain progressive voices, such as that of the great Tagore, who emphasized that all the skills in the world were useless, even baneful, if not wielded by a cultivated imagination and refined critical faculties. Such voices have now been silenced by the sheer demand for profitability in the global market. Parents want their children to learn marketable skills....

This is the problem.

And I don't buy that this desire for a male child is everywhere in the world. Sure, the planet is male dominated at this point in time, but this desire for male children - isn't that mostly an eastern thing? I've never been exposed to that concept at all here in the West.
But maybe it does exist in pockets somewhere over here as well. However, it it was so prevelant I would think I would have been exposed to it by now.

@PS-

Yes, I am a malayalee too, grew up in central India though!

Please !Puhleaze people all over the world .Puhleaze stop making babies if you cannot afford to give them good life.

It was the grandfather who killed the baby girl. He didn't even make the baby.

Aranchal

Who knows how many American men, for example, do not rape women because they know there's a real chance they'll serve time for it?I highly doubt it is because of the cultural superiority of the American man or his deep respect for women - one look at Maxim magazine or any male-centric publication which treats women as sex objects and there's no doubt that to many men, women are still just a piece of meat to pulverize.

Please! Looking at girlie mags or even porn does not mean you want to rape women. It also does not mean you do not respect women. It simply means you like to look at photos of attractive women scantily clad or nude - something alot of men do, including perhaps your closest friends and family members.

but I also care about Indians, and the men in family who treated my mother with respect and love, and the little boys in my family who will grow up learning the right things - I care about them too.

Now if you ever caught any of the above mentioned men or boys in your family looking at porn would you then assume that they do not respect women and want to rape them and the only thing preventing them from doing so is fear of law and punishment?

Respecting women does not mean you have to be some asexual prude who does not show a healthy interest in sexuality or women's bodies.

Similarly, nobody here has yet met a blanket statement that all Indian men are sexist pigs because this grand-dad murdered his grand-baby. What we are saying is that the system needs to be changed - the system of dowry in particular because this is one of several things in India that give rise to a preference for having boys.

Shalu, there's lots of young guys in India who think and talk like Pooja's hubby. They're the right-wing nutjobs of India. My lawyer over there, who is thirty, started talking one day about how girls wearing tops with no sleeves were bound to get treated disrespectfully everywhere they went. I mean - 'no sleeves'. I think it was some kind of hint.

i don't think education has to do much with the issue. my husband, a MBA and NRI, won't let me adopt a girl-child. why?? he thinks people will think we are having "problems" concieving a child. Whenever a case on infanticide comes up he comments "what the hell is wrong with parents wanting to have a boy?" no matter of explaining, facts and figures make him see the evil in it. then when we talk about rape or sexual assualt he always blames the girl "maybe she wasn't wearing anything provocative; but the girl who walked by might be, or he might have gotten aroused by a movie" that far off movie star can be blamed for the rape but not the guy who committed it. there are lots of people around us who have such attitude. they talk about women's liberation n all but when it comes to their own family they can't do it. before marraige i thought no one in this century thinks in this manner. but sadly people are still stuck in the 17th century and lot more than we can ever imagine.

Pooja, why did you ever marry such a person? If my man spoke like that I would seriously consider divorce. If he does not value female life and happiness in general, how much do you really think he values you?

Girls in Kerala somehow have it better,with Matrilineal castes where the properties are handed from Mother to daughter.I don't have the stats,but Kerala is generally accepted to have more girls vs. Males compared to any other state.

Dubliner: Most of the Nairs I know tell me that their families switched over to the patrilineal norm about 100 years ago. But I do agree with you that this practice may have helped give women in Kerala an early leg up that was maintained by the superior human development investments in Kerala.

Well, Indian journalists can cover whatever stories they want. If they didn't cover the Ramsey story, it's their choice. And I think the underlying issue here is that this wasn't just some random crazy grand-dad who killed the baby on a fluke. It was pre-planned due to the fact that her dowry would not have been able to be met and the cost of raising a girl child whom you have to pay her future husband and his in laws to take into their home and work as a maid free of cost, was not worth the amount it would