The Indian state of Haryana has convicted another doctor of determining the sex of an unborn child. In view of the increasingly lopsided sex ration in India, the government is cracking down on unregistered ultrasound clinics and on abortion clinics. Dr S.N. Danvantri, was sentenced to two years imprisonment and a 5,000 rupee fine.

Writing in The Hindu newspaper, columnist Kalpana Sharma calls the problem a "social emergency". She says that the worst fears of campaigners against sex selective abortions are coming true. In regions where the sex ratio is lowest, entire villages lack marriageable women. Wives are bought from other states for as little as 5,000 rupees. Often they do not understand their husband's language. And where a family can only afford to buy in one wife, the woman may be expected to service brothers, too.

"How ironical it is that just when Indians are patting themselves on the back on having the richest man in the world in their midst, when the middle classes are celebrating the rising stock market, when the media is openly promoting two Bollywood blockbusters as if they were essential news, girls are being killed, women are being bought and girls and women have to fear for their lives in many parts of this country. This reality should cancel out the euphoria. But it barely makes a dent. It touches our consciences for a moment and then recedes," writes Ms Sharma. ~ The Hindu, Nov 18