This is good news, considering that some of the districts prone to female infanticide like Salem , Dindigul, Madurai, Theni and Dharmapuri, have been on the national radar since 1985.
Traditionally, in districts like Madurai, Theni, Salem, where female infanticide was initially found to be widespread, NGOs’, chroniclers and researchers have reported that a common method used for killing a baby girl within 7 days of birth, found undesirable for various reasons from dowry to patriarchic values favouring the male child, was “paddy soaked in milk or the poisonous sap of a locally found calotropis plant (‘Erukku’ in Tamil).” Even cruder methods to snuff out the girl child have been used.
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