There is a complicated relationship between abortion as such and the selective abortion of female foetuses. This dilemma is one with which the women’s movement in India has been grappling since the late 1980s. In my discussion of this dilemma, I would like to move away completely from Satyamev Jayate, the television programme, (on which a discussion has been initiated by Shohini Ghosh on kafila.org). In any case, there the...

-Kafila.org The uproar over what is being referred to as the ‘Ambedkar cartoon’ in the class XI textbook prepared by NCERT first began over a month ago, that is to say, almost six years after the books have been in circulation, been taught and received high praise for their lively style and a critical pedagogical approach (more on this below).  It was a political party – one of the factions of...

While India faces an acute shortage of trained medical manpower, as many as 1,333 doctors migrated to foreign shores over the last one year. During the same period, the previous year - from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011 - 1,157 doctors had migrated in search of employment, and between 2009 and 2010, 1,458 doctors went abroad. This latest revelation by Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday comes just...

JAIPUR: Taking a cue from Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, the Pali district in Rajasthan will install ultra sound tracking technology device called 'silent observer' (SIOB) at all the sonography centres in the district to control sex selection and female feticide. The district administration will start installing the device from May 18 at all the 35 sonography centres operational in the district. The main server of the 'silent observer' will be at the...

-The Economist HOW should one judge the lot of women in India, a country that is in many ways progressive, modern, tolerant and yet by turns repressive and hostile? Women hold the highest political positions (the presidency, speaker of parliament, leader of the ruling party, leader of the opposition in parliament, several chief ministers of large states) and in theory they are protected by a variety laws promoting equality. Though development indicators...