FACTS againest MYTHS V0L-Ii-3-JUNE-1995
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- FACTS againest MYTHS V0L-Ii-3-JUNE-1995
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COMMENT
MYTHS ABOUT
SFJJ DETERMINATION TESTS
their bodies and bodily processes are being projected as
“hi-tech solutions” to women’s problems. There is an ur
gent need to fight on each of these issues separately and
also within a unified frame of reference.
A Myriad Questions
CONTRIBUTED BY R.P. RaVINDRA
'Choosing the sex of one's child
is the most sexist sin. ’
We live in an era of paradoxes and contradictions — the
reality was never so multi faceted, the issues never so com
plex. Everything 'around us seems to be melting andunfortunately the new fours acquiicd by the congealing of the mol
ten mass leaves us little (o rejoice at. Forces which had op
posed amendments in the Hindu Code Bill are today clamor
ing fora Uniform Civil Code; a new policy for women in
Maharashtra has been followed by the sordid events of the
Jalgaon sex scandal and the mirage of women’s empower
ment raised at the Cairo Conference is evaporates in the
heat of a Delhi tandoor!
Sex Determination (SD) represents a focal point for thinking
and action at various levels. It is the violation of women’s
foremost, basic human right—the right to survive. SD is the
most subtle and hence the most potent weapon of women’s
elimination which takes discrimination against them to the
womb. It negates the fundamental right to equality. It also
GUILTY . of being a girl.
Sentenced to death.
Her parents wanted a boy.
From local to global levels, we find the feminist expressions
beiiwhijacked by the Establishment while the real women’s
issi^bontinue to be relegated to the backstage. The period
of two decades spanning Nairobi to Beijing has witnessed
greater visibility, sharpening and focussing of women’s is
sues but little progress in terms of concrete action. Drafting
of new legislations (sex determination tests) and amendments
in existing laws (dowry, rape, prostitution etc.) leave much to
be desired while implementation of these laws, even in their
present forms is almost nil. While the New Economic Policy
has started taking its toll in terms of growing unemployment,
neglect of heajth and education, devastation of natural re
sources and environment and marginalisation of the ‘chil
dren of a lesser God’, the worst affected are women. The
declaration at the International Conference on Population
and Development (1CPD), Cairo notwithstanding, several
new Long Acting Contraceptive (LACs) are being added to
the armour of hazardous contraceptives targeted at women.
New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) which would fur
ther reduce whatever little control women have retained over
Having a girl would be a lifetime
burden.
They used amniocentesis,
an innocent pre-natal test
meant to detect
genetic abnormalities
in the foetus, as an
instrument for sex
determination.
When the tests showed the
foetus to be a girl, they
unhesitatingly ended
her little life.
Her parents turned
into executioners.
Your daughter is your child too.
Let her be born.
June *95
FACTS against MYTHS
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FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY
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raises important issues on the interfacing of technology,
health and society, of misuse of medical technology, of us
ing technocentric solutions for social problems, of viola
tion of the principles of medical ethics, of social and demo
graphic implications of such technologies, of the decision
making processes involving technology, which can have
far-reaching social effects, of regulating the medical profes
sion (specially reproductive technology) both internally
and externally, of limits to research and the techno-docs’
power ‘to play God’, of the role and limits of social legisla
tion in tackling social problems; of‘informed consent’, and
patients’ rights and doctors accountability, of the possible
fall-out of the advent of New Reproductive Technologies
(NRTs) from Sex Pre-Selection Techniques (SPSTs) to noncoital reproduction through IVF- ET or GIFT, surrogate moth
erhood to genetic engineering; of decision-making process
in family and society and women’s role (or lack of it) in them.
All these issues affect us all directly or indirectly. They
determine how we define and interpret our past and shape
our present and future. Like ecological issues, they ques
tion the wisdom of interfering with nature’s method of selec
tion and of disrupting its subtle balances.
It is difficult to find another issue which could
raise so many complex interrelated issues and yet
touch human beings directly and intimately.
Perhaps, in the Indian context, it is the most appropri
ate example of the 'Personal Is PoliticalHowever, it is
difficult to refocus the nation’s attention on this issue.
The earlier two nationwide campaigns and the r~—
resultant enactment (but non-implementation) of
. a nation-wide law have strengthened the ethos
of cynicism and frustration prevalent today. The
law has also given an alibi to the government to
escape international humiliation and condemna
tion on this issue. While China and S.Korea, fac
ing similar situations, have advanced to some
extent on the paths chosen by their respective
governments, the Indian government and soci
ety are simply not ready to confront this issue.
However we would be able to tackle the more
complicated questions raised by the advent of
NRTs only by using the space and insights gained
by effectively confronting SD tests.
We are running out of time. We do not have more
than a decade to effectively curb (if not eliminate)
this problem, which, even now has acquired the
status of ‘a social phenomenon’. Thousands of
clinics are already in operation, spanning the en
tire north, central and west India, many ofthem in
smaller towns and villages. The region most af
fected by this phenomenon coincides with the
demographically sensitive region- where for economic.
social and culture factors, female mortality is much more
pronounced. The SD phenomenon and with it, the dan
ger of a demographic catastrophe is rapidly spreading to
newer geographical territories. The economic stakes
in this growing business involve few hundred crores
Of rupees today.
FACTS against MYTHS
As it grows, the vested interests would become very pow
erful and they would counter all efforts to control it.
Accordingly to the 1991 census, four States and five Union
Territories report sex ratios less than 900, the situation is
worse in certain rural districts and castes with a tradition of
female infanticide. New simpler techniques for pre-natal sex
prediction are being searched throughout the world. Such a
technique, say, of predicting an offspring’s sex through
analysis of a pregnant mother’s blood would make prolif
eration of SD much beyond monitoring and control. Evolu
tion of a simple, effective and cheap SPST would also make
our campaign redundant and futile. In the meantime, people’s
acceptance of sex-selective abortion as ‘a part of socialcultural practice’ and the frustration of non-implementation
of laws on this issue might further stall our efforts.
However, it is still possible to fight and win. The earlier
campaigns have already raised consciousness on this is- .
sue. Lakhs of people have directly supported the campaign
through their action. Artists, moved by this issue have ex
pressed themselves through films, cartoons, posters,
slideshows, theatre and street-plays, songs, poems, jocial
advertisements and classical dance.
in
Maharashtra underlines the fact that the pressure of
campaign can close down most SD clinics (and that,,in
absence of such pressure and with the government ’s
lack of political will, such clinics resurface). Although
the Centre is yet to implement the nationwide law passed
by the Parliament in 1994, lately the National Human
^3 Rights Commission and the National Commission for
Women have taken some initiati ves on this issue. The
Department of Women and Child Welfare has taken
steps for the study of selected districts with very low
sex ratios.
it is time for all of us to rise to the occasion. Activists,
academicians and common people, women and men,
people working on health, gender, development, eth
ics, human rights, demography, public policy and con
sumer rights- all should join hands to analyse, debate
and solve this issue. Each small success gained in this
struggle would have a great spin-off effect in several
related issues e.g. exposing the role of medical^hmcils in safeguarding the interests of the pro-SD rauby
would strengthen the ongoing feeble campaign to
uphold medical ethics, effective monitoring of vigi
lance committees may lead to their replication in other
fields, and curbing research on SPSTs would raise the
issue of limits to research in all NRTs.
© I
R.P. Ravindra is the founder-member of Forum Against
Sex-Determination and Sex Pre-Selection (FASDSP); Mem
ber, Expert Committees on SD Tests appointed by Govern
ment of Maharashtra and the Union Government; Lecturer
in Pharmaceutics at SNDT Women’s University; and ac
tively involved on issues related to health and gender.
Jane *95
Pace ?
Sex-selective abortion is an effective tool for
population control/family planning.
FACT
Many people believe that due to the son-preference deeply
engraved in the Indian psyche, a large number of people
keep on increasing the family size with the hope of beget
ting a son. SD tests according to them, is the best measure
of Family Planning. Several others, including certain policy
planners consider women as '“procreation machines’. Hence,
‘decreasing the number of machines would automatically
lower their total output’ is their logic. It has resulted in fixa
tion of NRRI (Net Reproductive Rate = 1) i.e. each surviv
ing female should be replaced by only one daughter-as an
important target earmarked for India’s population
programme.
• Son-preference (and conversely, criminal neglect of
daughters) in Indian society is an established fact. How
ever, that is not an important determinant of India’s rising
population. Several studies have shown that poverty is
|^an important cause rather than an effect of population
growth; that poor people produce more children because
their chances of survival are less and because most of
them, residing in third world countries are not supported
by any system of social security, specially in old age:
• Global consensus, as outlined in the Declaration of ICPD
held at Cairo considers Women’s empowerment to be the
best contraceptive. Women mostly want a small family.
However, their secondary status and inability of partici
pation in decision-making processes prevent them from
enforcing the small-family norm. Women’s education,
awareness and participation in economic activities, lead
ing to their development and empowerment can effec
tively curb population growth. Kerala is the best example;
• Sex-selective abortions strike at the very root of women’s
dignity and the principle of equality. How can women be
empowered in a milieu which denies them even the right
to life? SD tests, would thus oppose the process of fam
ily-planning through women’s empowerment;
SD tests (and subsequent sex-selective abortions) can
only eliminate the ‘undesirable’ sex; they do not guaran
tee the birth of offspring of a ‘desirable’ sex;
• Family planning and family welfare go much beyond the
narrow concept of numbers. 'Quality of life' is insepa
rable from them. What would be the quality of life of the
Indian woman (mostly anaemic and a young mother) who
is made to pass through a vicious cycle of conception,
SD tests, abortion and subsequent conception?
• Women, like men, are full and equal human beings, cap
able of participating and contributing in each walk of life.
Reducing their worth to 'reproductive machines' has deep
sexist connotations. Attempting to solve the population
problem through reduction in women’s numbers would
justify dowry murders and ‘femicide’!
FACTS against MYTHS
MYTH
Sex determination tests are safe and
accurate
FACT
SD techniques consist of two components—methods for
removal of foetal cells and chromosomal analysis of these
cells to identify foetal sex. Presently, amniocentesis and
Chorionic Villi Biopsy (CVB) are being used for the former,
while the latter part is carried out by geneticists in genetic
laboratories. (Sonography being a different technique would
be discussed separately).
• Of the various techniques used for SD, amniocentesis
and CVB carry the risks of spontaneous abortion and
infections leading to further complications. Amniocente
sis carries the added risk of injury to placenta, or to vital
organs of the foetus even when performed under ultra
sonic cover by trained experts. In India, both these tech
niques are being performed by untrained persons in con
ditions which are far from ideal, thus increasing the
chances of immediate/delayed complications.
• Following SD tests, abortion is normally performed in the
second trimester of pregnancy. Abortion at such an ad
vanced stage is hazardous to the mother. In India, 70%
women are anaemic; average maternal age at first preg
nancy in rural areas is around 17-18 years and the mater
nal mortality rate in India is one of the highest in the
world. The risks of repeated abortions and the vicious
circle of pregnancy-test-abortion-pregnancy must be
viewed in the context of this morbidity — mortality data..
• Sonography, although used commonly to monitor preg
nancy is not totally free from side-effects and hence
should not be used routinely.
• Chromosomal analysis of material derived from
amniocentesis or CVB has an accuracy of up to 97% with
highly skilled operators, the accuracy is much less for
poorly trained persons as are working in India.
• Sonography cannot be relied upon as a technique for
predicting foetal sex. Identification of the offspring’s sex,
using this technique, becomes possible Only after four
months of gestation, after which abortion would become
complicated (and illegal after 20 weeks). The probability
of false positive and false negative results is too large to
make this method dependable for sex prediction.
MYTH:
Sex determination tests would not alter the
sex ratio of the population
FACT:
The general impression is that SD is resorted to only by
those in heed of sons to balance their families and that they
stop soon after getting a son.
• Studies in different parts of India show that though SD
tests are first adopted by a section of the population where
preference for a son is extremely pronounced, they are
soon accepted by other sections of society; People hav
ing no living daughters or those with One Or more sons
June *95
Pane 3
are also known to adopt SD techniques to pre-eliminate
women from their families.
• The average desirable family composition in India is 2
sons and a daughter. While there have been no incidence
of people aborting sons till a daughter is bom. lakhs of
daughters have been aborted with the hope of begetting
a son. This process of abortion of daughters may con
tinue even after the birth of a son in the family till at least
two sons are born.
• Sex-selective abortions are more acceptable in castes/
regions where son-preference is more pronounced. In
these regions/castes, the sex ratio is already precarious
owing to the discrimination against daughters. Abortion
of unborn daughters is bound to accelerate the down
ward slide of females along the demographic ladder.
Secondary' Sex Ratio (SSR) i.e. the number ofmales bom per
100 females can be taken as a sure indicator ofsex-selective
abortions in a given population. Universally normal values
of SSR vary between 104 and 106 to account for a slight
excess of biologically weaker male sex at birth. Thus, a SSR
consistently greater than 107 can be taken as a sure indica
tor of occurrence of sex-selective abortion of females. SSR
values for Ludhiana from 1981 to 1988 are as follows:
Year
1981
'82
'83
’84
’85
’86
'87
'88
SSR.
105
105
113
113
113
112
114
122
Similarly, corresponding values for a cluster ofvillages around
Ludhiana are as follows:
Year
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
SSR.
116
101
117
114
119
1982-83 was the year when SD started proliferating in that
region. According to a study by the Morrison Institute for
Population and Research Studies at Stanford University,
California, the SSR for India is 108.7 males per 100 females.
More accurate micro studies from different regions of India
substantiate the fear of demographic damage due to SD tests.
MYTH
Reduction in the number of women would
enhance their worth.
FACT
A perverse logic doing the rounds is that reduction in
womeifs number makes them more ‘wanted’. In fact, SD
proponents claim that in future bridegrooms may have to
pay dowry, due to shortage of females of marriageable age.
• Applying the economic theory of ‘demand and supply**
to complex social issues reflects two facts: patriarchal
prejudice and the ignorance about fundamental concept
of social organisation and social dynamics. It is an ob
noxious view to equate women with grains and cereals
whose value depends upon their being in short supply!
• In several regions, especially in most South Asian socie
ties, low sex ratios (deficit of females in population) re
flect their lower status and secondary role in society.
• Historically, a drastic reduction in the number of females
resulting in the disruption of sex ratio balance has oc
curred only in a few small societies. Sociologists fear that
FACTS against MTTE1S
such a phenomenon would result in greater incidence of
rape, forced marriages, polyandry', in general in making
women’s lives more insecure and sex stereotyping more
pronounced. Women would be compelled to stay within
the four walls of their homes and avoid contact with the
insecure and hostile ‘outside world’ for ‘their own ben
efit’. Thus all the advances made by women through their
struggle foremancipation would come to a zero and women
would have to fight for their most basic right of survival.
• In a society like ours, powerful men would maintain a
"zanankhana' to demonstrate their power and influence
while several men, finding no companions might resort to
any means to force a woman for a sexual/marital relation
ship. In either case, a woman would have no control over
her (jfe. Recently, several instances have came to light in
which young men have killed women in cold blood for
refusing to marry them or having sex with them. A large
number of young people find this is ‘normal’, ‘macho’
behavior, hi future, it might become a respectable norm!
MYTH
Laws cannot curb sex determination tests.
FACT
True, progressive legislation alone cannot solve any social
problems like SD tests. However, they can create space
within which solutions could be explored and implemented.
Legal action, if coupled with measures for creating aware
ness and suitable policy interventions can at least check
large scale sex-selective abortions. The ultimate solution of
this problem lies in the fundamental restructuring of our
society on the foundations of gender equality and justice.
Ultimately, a socio-cultural revolution would be needed to
solve this problem. Nevertheless short term measures in
cluding a stringent and workable law can surely curb it
• Unlike other problems related to women’s status in soci
ety (e.g. dowry, sati, child marriage), this issue has an
additional player in the game viz. the doctor. Doctors,
although no more ethical than other members of society,
are definitely law-fearing (provided they are convinced
that the law would be implemented) It is in their profes
sional interest to follow laws. The negative publicity
resulting after ‘getting caught’ acts as a major deterrent
for most doctors. In Maharashtra, most ofthe SD clinics
stopped business immediately after the enactment of the
State level, law against SD tests. (They, however, gradu
ally reappeared when the Government, through inaction
and lethargy demonstrated a lack of political will to imple
ment the law.)
• Sex of the unborn is mostly predicted by chromosomal
analysis of foetal cells, which is carried out only by a
small number of well-equipped genetic laboratories situ
ated in large cities. Hence, monitoring SD business, in
effect, means monitoring these few laboratories in cities.
• If licences for prenatal diagnosis are granted only to gov
ernment institutions, the task of vigilance would be fur
ther simplified. The ban on misuse of techniques for SD
imposed upon government institutions has not been vio
latedfor the past 15 years.
June *95
s t k' 1
Banning SD would infringe upon women's
right to choose the sex of the offspring.
FACT
The pro-SD lobby argues that the right to choose the sex of
the offspring is a logical culmination of the ‘pro-choice’
theory as the woman should decide how many children she
should have, when to have then, so also their sex. It would
be worthwhile to ask a few questions. Did the common
women of the poor South Asian countries (where SD tests
are most common) or the women’s movement in this region
ever ask for such a right? Who asked for it and who gave it?
Do these women enjoy basic human rights such as the right
to equality? Can they decide whether and when to get mar
ried?, can they demand the right to education, health, nour
ishment^ equal treatment? Can they say ‘no’ to a sexual
relationship forced upon them? In the absence of all these
rights, does the right to decide the offspring’s sex serve any
purpose?. The answers to these questions would reveal
the following facts:
• Women from poor countries have never asked for a right
to decide the offspring’s sex. It is a bogey raised by the
pro-SD lobby, specially doctors whose interests are
served by proliferation of SD tests.
tion. The number of choices doesn’t reflect the degree of
autonomy of an individual or a group e.g. asking Indian
women to choose from Norplant, Depo Provera or con
traceptive vaccine (without improving women’s status,
obtaining their in formed consent or upgrading the health
care setup) would decrease rather than improve their con
trol over their bodies. In the words of the noted thinker
Dada Dharmadhikari, “providing a chicken a choice be
tween getting roasted or fried is no choice
*
’
SEX RATIO: INDIA*
Year
1901 ’11
SR
972
’21
'31
’41
’61
'51
71
'81
‘91
964 955 950 945 946 941 930 934 927
’ No. of females/1000 males in population
States/U.T.s with low sex ratio: 1991 census
U.P
882
820
Punjab
888
830
Sikkim
888
Arunachal Pradesh
861
Nagaland
890
Haryana
874
Chandigarh
793
Andaman & Nicobar
Delhi
What Can You Do ?
• In a social milieu where a woman cannot take even the
most basic decisions related to her life, viz. education,
health, marriage, economic freedom, it is downright in
sulting to talk of the choice to decide whether to have a
son or a daughter!
• Write to the Minister for Health and Family Welfare,
Minister for State for Women and Child-welfare, Min
ister for Law and Justice, demanding:
• In reality, a women does not have such a choice: The
decision about children-when and how many to have,
etc. is taken largely by her in-law’s family. She cannot say
‘No’ to undergo a SD test for the fear of being deserted,
divorced or alienated in the family. Moreover, after the
SD test/ the choice of undergoing abortion is not her
own; she cannot opt to continue the pregnancy if the
foetus is detected to be a female nor can she decide to
abort a male foetus. Hence, the choice doesn’t exist.
* ensuring proper representation of voluntary groups
active on this issue at all levels of the implementing
machinery viz. Appropriate Authority, Supervisory
Board and Vigilance Committees;
• At times, we find women supporting/asking for SD test.
But, is their ‘choice’ totally free and fully informed? It is
often based on subtle or not-so-subtle pressures operat
ing in the family and society. The fear of being driven out
of family or having to lose one’s status in family weighs
heavily on the women's mind when they ask for SD
• On the basis of their experiences, women have been de
manding ‘choice’ in various walks of life. However, our
society does not seem to be keen to furnish them. Even in
the field of health, several of women’s demands have
remained unfulfilled: women want safe deliveries with the
least medical interventions (but most hospital-based de
liveries involve as Caesarean section); safe, simple, con
traceptives in their control (what they get are hazardous
long acting contraceptives); their gynecological prob
lems to be attended to with sympathy and concern (but
they are labelled as psychosomatic)...
• It must be remembered that in a consumerist culture, the
demand for a choice could be created and nurtured and a
choice be marketed as fulfilling an important social func
FACTS against MYTHS
v implementation of the Regulation of Prenatal Diag
nostic Techniques Act, 1994,
*amending the Act in the next session of Parliament so
as to restrict licences for prenatal diagnosis to govemment/municipal institutions;
removal of the clause of punishment to women un
dergoing SD test;
* automatic suspension/cancellation from the Registry
of Medical Practitioners of the name of doctors found
guilty by the court without referring the matter to the
Medical Council.
• Pressurise the concerned State governments to speedily
implement the Act.
• Maintain vigilance over authorised/unauthorised centres/laboratories using prenatal diagnostic techniques for
SD.
• Highlight the biological fact that the mother is not re
sponsible for the sex of the offspring.
• Create awareness and help explode myths about SD and
NRTs.
• Publicise social/cultural alternatives which strike at the
root of son-preference (nomenclature system doing away
with clan/caste indicating surnames, adding mother’s name
to one’s own name, daughters performing last rites on
parents, daughters supporting parents in old age etc.)
June *95
Page 5
MTV'V'M
fylTTM
How can you oppose selective abortion if you
are not opposed to abortion?
FACT
This twisted argument has been used by different people to
suit their purposes. On one hand, the pro-life lobby tried to
appropriate the campaign against SDlests under their logic
while the pro-SD lobby tried to use the argument to divide
and confuse the supporters ofanti-SD campaign. Some femi
nists in the West chose not to support this campaign lest
their stand be misinterpreted or misunderstood as pro-life.
There is an additional danger that our support to abortion
as a women’s right could be misused in its indiscriminate
use as a family planning tool.
Amidst all these conflicting realities, we bclieve-
• We oppose sex-selective abortion not because it violates
life, but because it violates the dignity and negates even
the existence of women. The issue is discrimination, not
right to life. If a woman chooses to abort her offspring,
irrespective of its sex, we have no objection. But aborting
a child only due to sex is discrimination and hence should
be opposed.
• Abortion, if used routinely as a F.P tool is detrimental to
women’s health. Moreover; it shifts the responsibility of
contraception completely to woman, if she doesn’t want
• to undergo abortion. Contraception and child-rearing
should be the common, shared concerns for both men
and women.
• However, women should have the right to abortion as an
extension of their right over their bodies and specially
because in the Indian context, abortion represents women’s
last defence against an unwanted pregnancy. Quite of
ten, she cannot oppose a relationship forced upon her,
nor can she use or make her partner use contraceptives.
Ultimately, she may have to face social stigma (if the birth
for the child is socially unacceptable) or opposition from
family (if the child is unwelcome) so she must have the
last option, of abortion, available to her.
Facts Against Myths is a monthly
bulletin of factual information on
a number of development myths
and fallacies, etc, including infor
mation against alien development
models, paradigms and false con
cepts on caste, creed and gender.
Produced and Published by:
Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (VAK)
D-l, Shivdham. 62, Link Road,
Malad (W). Bombay 400 064
S?
882 28.50 and 889 866.2Fax No. (0091 )-22-889 8941
DTP Layout & Graphics by
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Telefax 643 8581
• We are also opposed to SPSTs in which there is no appar
ent bloodshed and stigma attached to ‘kil ling’. Never
theless, SPST is simply an extension of SD, based on the
same principle - of selection based on discrimination.
MYTH
Sex-selective abortions are more humane
than dowry murders and sati.
FACT
o Can poverty be eradicated by bombing slums or minori
ties problems be sol ved by eliminating minorities ? Women
aren’t the problem.The problem is society’s altitude to
wards them. The remedy lies in making daughters ‘wanted’
and ‘welcome’ and not in refusing them their existence.
• If this fatalistic argument is extended to all walks of life
and we start eliminating ‘unwanted people’, the earth
would soon turn into a gigantic graveyard.
• Why this deceptive choice between getting killed at birth
or later? Women do have a choice to lead a full, healthy,
dignified lite.
® Nobody stops producing sons for the fear of a nucle^
war, riot or a road accident. In fact, a basic motivation
behind procreation is humankind’s undying optimism. We
always hope for a better tomorrow, for a more beautiful
humane world for our children. Why presuppose that a
daughter born would be subject to atrocities? It is better
to work towards making daughters ‘wanted’ and happy.
Selected Reading
1. 'The Scarcer Half’/Ravindra.R.P/Ccntre for Education &
Documentation Bombay, 1986.
2. Report of the Central Committee on SDTesls/Govt. of
India,Minis, of Health & Family Welfare. New Delhi, 1989.
3. ’Struggle Against Violence VEd.Chhaya Dalar/Stree Publica
tions, Calcutta. 1993.
4. ‘SeminarVSpecial number
5. (Hindi) Nari Jeevan Sangharsh/Ling J anch aur Chunav Virodh.
Manch/Bombay, 1988.
6. ‘In Search of Our Bodies VShakli. Bombay/1987.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: We are extremely grateful to Mr. R.P
Ravindra for preparing this issue of Facts Against Myths.
Printed Matter
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