And yet thousands of female foetuses are massacred every month under the most sophisticated pre-natal diagnostic techniques. What's ironical is that sex determination facilities have reached those villages of Punjab, UP and Gujarat where even the basic facility of potable water has not. And the practice, though banned by the government, still goes on in a big way.

It started in mid 1970s when aminocentesis was first introduced in India for its diagnostic value. Hailed as a remarkable medical achievement, this test was to help couples who were running a risk of giving birth to a genetically-defective child. In this sense it was an achievement indeed, but little did we know what lay shrouded therein. The procedure, which involved a test to detect genetic defects in the foetus, incidentally, also revealed the sex of the child. And it was this latter aspect of the test which caught the attention of Indian doctors who saw its immense potential in the Indian society , so in love with the male child.

Soon the business of sex determination (SD) was booming. Thousands of SD centres sprang up where doctors offered hope to couples to realise their cherished dream of having a son, what if in the process they selectively aborted female foetuses. Soon more sophisticated tests started gaining popularity. 78,000 female foetuses were destroyed in the country between 1978 and 1982 using aminocentesis tests. Another study revealed that SD clinics in Delhi conducted an average 11,000 tests in 1988. Probably this was what shook the government out of slumber and it announced an official ban on such centres.

But a ban is futile until implemented `well enough'. The government has failed miserably with the implementation part and the practice goes on unabated. Those who indulge in this menace have no fear of the law because they have a tacit understanding with the party in question. That's probably the reason we continue to be part of a society where female infanticide is still the order of the day. The only difference between yesteryears and today being that scientific developments have transferred elimination of the girl child from a born to an unborn stage.

No wonder the country's female male continues to be unfavourable to women. Many among us would not know that ours is the only country in the world where female-male ration has declined over the years: from 972 in 1901 to 935 in 1981 and then 930 in 1991. Unfortunately we also happen to be among those few countries where female mortality exceeds that of the males even though the female is biologically stronger. In India, female mortality rate is about 55 per cent higher than the male mortality rate (in the age group of 0 to 5 years).

The problem with our society is that it keeps finding excuses to justify its faults. Here men get away after raping and then strangulating a girl; here polyandry is justified under the garb of religion; and here if crime against women rises, it's said that the women must have provoked it. Our problem lies in the fact that we don't look for solutions. Painfully indifferent as we are, we're not bothered if the spate of abortions set off by SD tests gets further aggravated. It little matters to us that over 600 maternal deaths are reported after every one lakh births in our country. We are also not concerned if maternal mortality rate here happens to be the second highest in the world.

We are again not moved if an average 60 women die per 1000 abortions here. Some are even smart enough to reason that scarcity will enhance women's value. It would probably, had we been discussing a market trend. But we are not. We happen to be talking about a race which is the harbinger of humanity.Today we can't imagine the psychological impact of female foeticide on young minds. After convincing them of the worthlessness of being a woman, how are we to teach them equality of sexes? Snuffing out a life just because it happens to be that of a female is against the norms of human decency. It's a reflection of baser motives. Who knows in this mad pursuit we might just be risking our our future. How would the world be when the one who engenders it ceases to be? The enormity of this question, I hope, tickles our minds. Women's liberation, fine. But what next?

The writer is a staff reporter with The Indian Express