[Sundae]

I haven't had a chance to read the articles yet - and I will - but can the drop in the female population really have any correlation with pre-natal sex-determination tests? The vast majority of Indians could never afford these, certainly not 30 years ago. So the effect of these tests can only have a very small impact, surely? On a par with Indians who have access to birth control and abortion.

I'm not denying the overall figures of course.
And I think it's very sad.
But as with China I think countries have to be left to work these things out for themselves.
At some point they will reach crisis point and women will simply have to be valued again, for their sheer scarcity. How can we really change views from the outside? Subtly, drip by drip, child by child. I would not want a Muslim association picketing termination wards in the UK. I know that's religion and not culture, but the end result is the same.

If we're going to start, lets start with eradicating female circumcision.
That has only a minor effect on the growth of population - there are still plenty of girls around to mutilate.