According to the times, we have also upgraded our modus operandi to finish off our daughters even before they come to this world. We call it foeticide Dr VK Anand The most used slogan ‘beti bachao-beti padao’ points to one harsh truth —we do kill our daughters. In India, especially in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, daughters have invariably been the targets of infanticide. However, with advancement in medical science and introduction of ultrasound, we have also upgraded our modus operandi to finish off our daughters even before they come to this world. We call it foeticide. We Indians are the most innovative race on the planet. Many people have have been less cruel toward daughters as they refrain from foeticide and infanticide, but adopt a sophisticated modern method to kill daughters. This is by negligence after their birth in terms of nutrition and medical attention. Let us openly admit that barring a few exceptions, no Indian home welcomes the birth of a girl child. This is the reason that in almost every home where a woman is on her family way, there has to be a smiling picture of baby Krishna in the bedroom. This picture does not only convey the message of longing for a boy, but the hidden words are ‘Girl child unwelcome’. In context of that, I had to face very awkward moments in my life. Seven years after my marriage, with god’s grace we were blessed with a daughter. The nurse in the maternity ward of the PGI, Chandigarh, conveyed me the good news. She asked me to bring tea with a lot of sugar in it. Those were the days when in the PGI, there was no facility of canteen for indoor patients. When I came out of the hospital to fetch tea from a stall at the pavement, I was delighted to meet one of my colleagues ‘Mr A’ from Panjab University library. On being asked why I was there in the PGI; with a glow on my face and happiness in heart, I told him, “Dear I have been blessed with a lovely daughter”. With sadness on his face ‘Mr A’, with sympathy, gently patted on my back and with a sigh said, “Have courage. Please do not worry”. My daughter caught fever when she was six days after her birth. My wife took her to the paediatrics OPD in the PGI. The very first lady who observed the small baby asked how old your son was. On knowing that baby was a daughter, she immediately responded, “Daughters are not advised to be taken to a hospital. God takes care of them and they get cured on their own”. Congratulations contaminated by consolations kept pouring in for days together. The best congratulatory message was from an elderly lady from my neighhbourhood, who, with an expressionless face and in consolatory tone uttered, “chalo tusi eh samaj lo ke tuhade ghar Luxmi aaee hai”.

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