In ancient India the birth of a girl child was hailed as auspicious. An old Indian proverb lies down that a home without a daughter is like a body without soul. The coming of a daughter in the house was compared with the advent of Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and Saraswati, the Goddess of fine arts. The usual blessing of a father at the time of his daughter’s marriage was: “May you excel in learning and public speaking”. No ceremony was considered complete without presence of women. The belief was that “No hone is complete without a woman.”
The situation, however drastically changed during the Middle Ages when Idnia was subjected to frequently foreign invasions. The invaders botty also comprised of women suffered badly, infanticide and ‘Purdah’ became prevalent. Sending a girl to school became risky. There was, therefore, sudden decline in female literacy and the position of women in society. This tradition lasting till today and the killing of fetus is started with a boom.
The problem of female fetus is widespread in urban centers. With the help of new techniques it has become possible to determine the sex of the unborn baby or the fetus, and if it is found to be a girl child than, this is followed by abortion. Clinics offering such service have come up all over the country.
There are severing laws against the misuse of parental diagnostic techniques, which are meant only for detecting abnormalities in the unborn infant. The doctors, however, violate this law. Not a single case has been field so far under the law, which forbids such an unethical practice.
To day, the problem is quite widespread in