Technology SUCKS :-(

I guess I may get be fired for making such a statement, after all Technology is my bread earner! Hang on..

I read in the papers (Times, Deccan Herald etc) today about International Women’s Conference being held at Art of Living International Centre. Few statistics which will worry you (and me),

• Every day in India, 2,000 female infants are killed in the womb
• Sex ratio at birth is falling in all states.
• Delhi shows a fall in ratio — 850 females for every 1,000 males.
• The natural sex ratio is about 105 boys per 100 girls, but in India it is now 113 boys per 100 girls and as high as 156 boys per 100 girls in some regions.

Sex selection in India is achieved chiefly through ultrasound scans followed by the selective abortion of female fetuses. This is the reason for me to say “Technology sucks”. I can confidently say the inventors of these gadgets would feel depressed to see how their inventions are being put to ‘wrong’ use.

Forget about rural areas in India, in a city like Bangalore (which we boast as the Silicon Valley of India, Garden City etc) there are clinics which conduct sex test for pregnant women You don’t get to see the boards blatantly on any clinic but there are people who can take you to such clinics.

I do get to interact (unfortunately ofcourse) with people who argue that a male child is a must. My reasoning is (which falls to deaf ears) that if everyone wants to have a male child whom are they going to marry?? I ask this question with a ‘basic’ assumption of male-female marriages is what people are looking forward to and not same-sex marriages.

Few related articles

• Swami Agnivesh – ‘save your daughter to save your religion’
• Abortion, Female Infanticide, Foeticide, Son preference in India
• Understanding the Sex Ratio in India: A Simulation Approach
• Girls are a second choice, GLOBALLY
• Sexing Babies
• Female foeticide still a problem in 21st century India