The "Save the Girl Child" campaign launched by President Pratibha Patil this Gandhi Jayanti day, ostensibly to remind our society of the alarmingly declining girl to boy ratio in the 0-6 year age group ought to serve as a wake up call.

Childbirth is an important milestone in a woman's life and a child, boy or girl, is considered a gift from God.

When 41-year-old Hollywood actress Salma Hayek gave birth to a baby girl last month, world-wide, the media portrayed her pictures and that of her fiancé welcoming their first child together.

But giving birth to a girl is also a big disappointment for many.

In Uttar Pradesh's Noida, a baby was found dead one hour after birth at a government hospital. According to preliminary investigations, the infant was allegedly killed by her own mother killed, probably because she was a girl. Another woman who had given birth to her third girl child, just vanished, leaving the new born in the hospital.

That a majority of our populace prefer a male child to a girl is borne by the Census figures. If the 1991 Census depicted a serious and worsening decline in the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group, reflecting the rising prevention of female births and the incidence of female infanticide coupled with the deliberate neglect of girl children's health, nutrition and safety, the 2001 Census revealed a further decline in the 0-6 age group and an even lower female-male ratio in the 15 to 19 age group.

In the country, if 976 girls were born in 1961 for every 1000 boys, we now have only 927 girls. The child sex ratio is even comparatively lower in the affluent regions of Punjab (798), Haryana (819), Chandigarh (845), Delhi (868), Gujarat (883) and Himachal Pradesh (896). Particularly, that every fifth girl child in Punjab is missing because of her gender is appalling. In Uttar Pradesh, reportedly the ratio has fallen to 916 with the affluent western UP, accounting for a sex ratio of 860. If one thought illiteracy was a major contributor to such an imbalance, what about the posh, prosperous and educated South Delhi area? According to a recent study, the girl-boy sex ratio below five years here has declined to 762 girls born for every 1000 boys.

Media reports indicate that discrimination against the girl child is throughout the country. The adoption racket unearthed a couple of years ago showed how some tribal women were forced to sell their newborn baby girls to agencies which specialised in international adoptions.

Women have been adding value to the society, the community and at the household level. Nonetheless, as various studies have concluded, her value is on the decrease in societies where money is considered central to their life and economies. Here, the woman is seen as a liability and those without money have ceased to be of value. If in the past, marriages used to be arranged within the communities, many men now desire to marry someone whose family can afford to offer more money, jewels etc. Consequently demands are made on women to bring in money and torture is often used as an instrument to get more money.

Notably in many families, it is not uncommon for a daughter-in-law to be troubled at home, especially when she gives birth to a girl. Should her second child at least be a boy, hopefully, lesser are her chances of being thrown out of her husband's home.

But what about those women who fail to give birth to a son? The consequences, the kind of harassment and torture that such women seem to undergo, be it at the hands of their husbands or in-laws is simply mind boggling.

More recently, in Vadodara, a 32-year-old roadside hakim selling ayurvedic and herbal medicines was arrested for torturing two women in his desire to have a son. In nine years of marriage, he allegedly forced his 27-year-old 'first wife' (mother of two girls aged 7 and 5 respectively) to have six abortions in nine years simply because each time she conceived a girl. In between the abortions, he would drive nails into her earlobes apart from starving and thrashing her. When she refused to get a seventh abortion done, he tried to get the foetus aborted by kicking her in the stomach. Desperately wanting a boy, he married another woman by tricking her. But when his 'second wife' too delivered a girl, he twice made her drink his urine.

The country has seen many a movement over the past few years against gender abuse. In 2001, the Supreme Court banned sex determination tests and selection procedures to save the girl child from being killed in the womb and directed the Union and state governments to be stricter in enforcing such legal provisions. The Akal Takht too issued a directive to shun the practice of female foeticide. Well-known religious leaders of various faiths and social activists have also campaigned in some of the areas known for having the country's worst gender ratio. But the inhuman practice is still on, despite that over the few years laws have been made stricter with more stringent punishment. But how people manage to evade punishment is a different story.

Every year, if about 12 million girls are born in the country, a third of these girls die in the first year of their life and close to three million, or 25 per cent, do not survive to see their fifteenth birthday. The child mortality rate between 0-4 years for girl child is 20.6 percent which is two percent more than that of boys (18.6 percent). That enrollment figures in schools; for girls are comparatively lower than those of boys clearly shows many girls just do not get enrolled in schools. Most disturbing is that thirty four percent of girls drop out before they complete Class 5.

It is not that parents hate their daughters. But many seem to believe that if the girl survives, her life will be worse than death. With the girl child highly susceptible to abuse, violence and exploitation both inside and outside her home, early marriage is often seen as more important for her than education. Many parents, in the first place, hesitate to send their daughters to school mainly due to the absence of security on the way to school or the dearth of sufficient female teachers.

It needs to be realised that not all parents would like to kill their daughters. Besides the culturally rooted male child preference, technology under the guise of sex determination tests gave a fillip to male child preference, considered an old-age insurance and a breadwinner; while on the contrary, the girl child is considered a social burden for whose wedding the parents need to shell out huge dowries.

At a macro level, the Eleventh Five Year Plan is expected to raise the status of the girl child through a series of interventions including an insurance cover which would act as a safety net and enable her receive a lump sum at the age of 18 years with suitable medical and educational components.

Some states have initiated innovative schemes in favour of the girl child. For over a year, the Delhi government has been providing financial assistance to the tune of Rs 5000 in the form of a 18-year fixed deposit from the date of birth of the girl child to ensure proper education and all round development economic security and to protect her from discrimination and deprivation. Last December, the state social welfare Board in Uttar Pradesh launched the "Beti Bachao Abhiyan" to save girl children by changing the public perception. The "Bhagyalakshmi Scheme" initiated by the Karnataka state government this August envisages to eradicate social evils like female foeticide, child labour, child marriage besides ensure education to girls born in poor families. Under the scheme, the government shall deposit Rs 10000 in the names of over one lakh girls born, after 31 March last year, who, on attaining the age of 18 years will receive the maturity value of Rs 34751.

Since gender discrimination is mostly linked to socio-economic factors, necessarily, the girl child should not be considered a liability. Beyond tightening of the laws around sex determination tests, it is imperative to change the mindsets of people, since such bias and prejudice begins first in the minds.