if this had happened to a ethnic group, a religious group, or a caste or indeed a tribe – there would be pandemonium. But, it happens just to women – and therefore it is excused under a variety of heads from culture to religion to lack of education.

Ten million girls have been killed by their parents in India in the past 20 years, either before they were born or immediately after, a government minister said on Thursday, describing it as a national crisis.

The UNICEF report is a stark read. There are rays of hope -but by and large it is bleak. And unless women’s rights are looked at the same way general human rights are looked at, i really don’t see any improvement. The home, the veil, religion, customs, caste, rituals, god, society, all combine to ensure that not much changes.