News from India: March 2006 Archives

It is a paradox that the two most populated countries in the world -- China and India -- which together have some 2.3 billion people, are running low on young women. That's because both China and India traditionally value boys more than girls. Modern technology has made it possible to identify the sex of an unborn child and to abort it if it is a girl. Other female babies are quietly disposed of after birth. That could mean long and lonely bachelorhoods in the near future for millions of men unable to find partners.

The nation's liberated economy -- portrayed by globalization forces as an antidote to poverty -- has done little for nearly 300 million poor people, the most of any country

New Delhi -- Among India's poor, survival is still won by acts of despair and cunning. It's a daily quest whose reward is a plate of rice or a simple medication.