India's unwanted girls

India's 2011 census shows a serious decline in the number of girls under the age of seven - activists fear eight million female foetuses may have been aborted in the past decade. The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi explores what has led to this crisis.

Kulwant has three daughters aged 24, 23 and 20 and a son who is 16.

In the years between the birth of her third daughter and her son, Kulwant became pregnant three times.

Each time, she says, she was forced to abort the foetus by her family after ultrasound tests confirmed that they were girls.

"My mother-in-law taunted me for giving birth to girls. She said her son would divorce me if I didn't bear a son."

Kulwant still has vivid memories of the first abortion. "The baby was nearly five months old. She was beautiful. I miss her, and the others we killed," she says, breaking down, wiping away her tears.

Until her son was born, Kulwant's daily life consisted of beatings and abuse from her husband, mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Once, she says, they even attempted to set her on fire.

"They were angry. They didn't want girls in the family. They wanted boys so they could get fat dowries," she says.

India outlawed dowries in 1961, but the practice remains rampant and the value of dowries is constantly growing, affecting rich and poor alike.

Kulwant's husband died three years after the birth of their son. "It was the curse of the daughters we killed. That's why he died so young," she says.

Her neighbour Rekha is mother of a chubby three-year-old girl.

Last September, when she became pregnant again, her mother-in-law forced her to undergo an abortion after an ultrasound showed that she was pregnant with twin girls.

"I said there's no difference between girls and boys. But here they think differently. There's no happiness when a girl is born. They say the son will carry forward our lineage, but the daughter will get married and go off to another family."

Kulwant and Rekha live in Sagarpur, a lower middle-class area in south-west Delhi.

Here, narrow minds live in homes separated by narrow lanes.

The women's story is common and repeated in millions of homes across India, and it has been getting worse.

In 1961, for every 1,000 boys under the age of seven, there were 976 girls. Today, the figure has dropped to a dismal 914 girls

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13264301

BRICS Urge More Commodity Market, Capital Flow Supervision

(L-R) India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, China's President Hu Jintao, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma attend a joint news conference at the BRICS Leaders Meeting in Sanya

SANYA, China (Dow Jones)--Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, collectively known as BRICS, Thursday called for greater supervision of commodity markets and international capital flows, as the countries look to boost their influence in debates about how the world's major economies should address such issues.

BRICS officials have warned that developing countries face risks from capital inflows caused by loose monetary policies in developed nations. BRICS trade officials on Wednesday said they still face economic overheating issues like inflationary pressures and asset bubbles, and agreed they need to boost coordination in the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations, and in areas like climate change negotiations, to ensure the interests of developing countries, according to Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming.

"We call for more attention to the risks of massive cross-border capital flows now faced by the emerging economies," the five countries said in a joint statement Thursday after their leaders met in China's southern island province of Hainan.

"Excessive volatility in commodity prices, particularly those for food and energy, poses new risks for the ongoing recovery of the world economy," the statement said. "The regulation of the derivatives market for commodities should be accordingly strengthened to prevent activities capable of destabilizing markets."

The five nations also said they support reform of the international monetary system leading to "a broad-based international reserve currency system providing stability and certainty," an apparent reference to a diminished role for the U.S. dollar as the world's primary reserve currency.

The state development banks of the five countries Thursday agreed to open credit lines in their national currencies to each other, the latest concrete step by developing nations to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar. The framework credit-line agreement was signed by Russia's Vnesheconombank, Brazil's Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social, China Development Bank Corp., Eximbank of India, and the Development Bank of South Africa. However, details and regulations, as well as the projects eligible for such financing are yet to be defined in the framework deal.

China Development Bank plans to issue around CNY10 billion of yuan-denominated loans this year to other BRICS nations, CDB Chairman Chen Yuan said at a news briefing, adding most of these loans will fund oil and gas projects.

CDB is in talks with Brazilian state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, regarding further loans for the oil company, Chen said.

"Both parties expressed interest in continuing cooperation and we are in talks regarding the next step of cooperation," Chen said, without elaborating on the size of potential loans.

China and Brazil reached a $10 billion oil-for-loan deal in 2009, under which Petrobras agreed to supply crude oil to China Petrochemical Corp. for 10 years in exchange for funding from China Development Bank.

Russia's Vnesheconombank is also in talks with CDB to borrow about US$1.5 billion worth of yuan for a currency swap between the two lenders, VEB's Chief Executive Vladimir Dmitriev said on the sidelines of the summit. He added that the BRICS countries are moving towards mutually trading each others' currencies, following Russia's launch of yuan trading in Moscow at the end of 2010.

The BRICS countries also said they welcome current discussions about elevating the role of Special Drawing Rights, a kind of synthetic reserve currency created by the International Monetary Fund, and discussions on changing its composition. Including the Chinese yuan in the basket of currencies that makes up the SDR is a reform currently being considered, although this wasn't specifically referred to in the BRICS countries' statement.

The five countries' leaders--Chinese President Hu Jintao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff--on Thursday also discussed expanding the BRICS grouping's membership and agreed they should all support a country before it can join, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hailong said at a news briefing. Wu reiterated other countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, but didn't name any countries.

When asked if the leaders discussed the yuan's exchange rate, Wu only said the topic wasn't on the meeting's agenda. Developing countries like Brazil in recent months have begun following developed countries like the U.S. and France in expressing concerns about China's undervalued currency.

The BRICS summit Thursday was the first if its kind to include South Africa. A shared position among the BRICS members on economic issues like how to address commodity price fluctuations could boost their joint heft in talks at the G-20, an increasingly influential forum for global economic policy debate and setting.

South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on Wednesday said capital inflows from developed countries have fueled a rise in South Africa's currency, the rand, and that the BRICS countries are likely to take their concerns about currencies and global economic instability to the G-20.

The statement Thursday also said nuclear energy "will continue to be an important element in future energy mix of BRICS countries." International cooperation is needed, however, to ensure nuclear energy is developed in strict observance of relevant safety standards.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110414-704029.html

Chawla needs to contribute with bat too: Dhoni

Piyush Chawla may have earned rich praise for his match-winning performance with the ball against Australia in the warm-up tie of the 2011 World Cup in Bangalore, on Sunday, but his captain was still not satisfied.

Despite Chawla's effort of four for 31 in nine overs that set up India's 38-run victory, Mahendra Singh Dhoni says he expected some more from Chawla, with the bat too.

"Well, he has done really well in whatever games he has played. But I think he needs to contribute with the bat. One of the main reasons for his selection was our need to have a specialist spinner who could also bat a bit. If he could bat a bit better and contribute 15-20 runs then it would be good for the side. But as a specialist spinner he has done well in whatever games he has played," Dhoni said.

India's skipper also warned everyone not to take the victory too seriously, as it was just a practice game, and stressed that the Australians were trying out things at the cost of victory.

"For the warm-up games it is mentally difficult to prepare yourself. In a year, if you play 35-odd ODIs, 10 Test matches and 45 days of IPL and Champions League and then all of a sudden when you hear that you have a warm-up game and 15 players are playing in that game, it is a difficult scenario to mentally prepare yourself for the game. That was reflected on the field.

"But, still, if you see the positives in the batting, only two batsmen contributed and still we were able to get 215-odd runs. But I also think that in the middle, when we lost five wickets, the Australian team also backed off a bit, because it is a warm-up game and you don't want to risk injuries.

"So, I think, at the end of the day, it is a good performance, but I won't take too much out of it," he said.

Dhoni also pointed out that the good showing does not guarantee that India will play with three spinners at the World Cup.

"If you are talking about the spinner's role, we are talking about that extra spinner, who will be the fifth proper spinner. It will depend a lot on what type of wickets we get, because we were almost sure that this wicket would help the spinners as the game progressed. It was an ideal wicket for the spinners and all of them bowled well.

"Again, the selection of the second or a third spinner is a headache but a good one to have because more the options, the better it is for the team. Sometimes you may feel the selection was right or wrong because if it works it is the right selection and vice-versa. I think everything will depend on what kind of wicket is provided," he claimed.

Like South African skipper Graeme Smith who had slammed the Chennai wicket during the warm-up match played on Saturday, Dhoni too didn't seem satisfied with the pitch, terming it an ideal one for Tests than ODIs.

"I feel during the World Cup we will see slightly better wickets than this wicket. I am not saying this is a bad wicket, but this wicket should be provided for Test matches. It would be an ideal wicket for Test matches with the ball spinning after a couple of hours."

He also pointed out that Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan had minor niggles but their injury concerns are not serious.

"Sachin and Zaheer had very mild niggles, nothing serious about it. We had time, as I said, because a warm-up game is not everything and we provided them rest. Sachin will hopefully play in the next game in Chennai and it will be good for the Chennai crowd.

"We will see if Zaheer is 100 per cent then we will make him play. We want him to be fully fit for the first game and even if he misses the next game, I don't really mind it. The positives from the game -- catching has been good -- batting has to improve a bit. Maybe the mindset was not there or mentally we were not ready and that could be one of the reasons why we didn't do well.

"The spinners did a real good job for us and if we improve on the fast bowling department, and if that also contributes, it will be great for us," he added.


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http://www.rediff.com/cricket/report/world-cup-2011-piyush-chawla-needs-to-contribute-with-bat-too-says-ms-dhoni/20110214.htm