The Wo! Front

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.”

That’s the Indian Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury talking about the still prevalant practice of female infanticide in India. According to her 10 million girl children have been killed in India in the past 20 years.

Unfortunately it will continue to hapen until women gain even a semblance of equality in that country but that’s far from realised. Girl children will continue to be thought of as not only worthless but a burden until they have the means to economic equality, education and social acceptance.