India faces crisis over dwindling numbers of girls, U.N. says

By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The dwindling numbers of Indian girls, caused by the illegal abortion of millions of babies, has reached "emergency proportions", fuelling an increase in crimes such as kidnapping and trafficking, the United Nations warned on Tuesday. Despite laws that ban expectant parents from running tests to determine the gender of unborn children, female foeticide remains a common practice in parts of India, where a preference for sons runs deep. "It is tragically ironic that the one who creates life is herself denied the right to be born," said Lakshmi Puri, deputy executive director of U.N. Women, at the launch of a new study on sex ratios and gender-biased sex selection. India's traditionally male-dominated culture views sons as assets — breadwinners who will provide for the family, carry on the family name, and perform the last rites for their parents, an important ritual in many faiths.