Domestic violence against women is increasingly recognised as a major health and social problem in India. It is also a concern for public health.

Contraception as a behavioral phenomenon has been the focus of many population researches, during the last half a century. In fact, explaining contraceptive behavior is a complex theoretical effort. Learning, motivation,

Despite its many advantages, the employment of women in economic activity in India has been associated with increased mortality for infants and young children. Simultaneously, narrower gender differentials in child mortality among employed women have been noted.

Undernourished women tend to deliver low birth weight babies (Karmer, 1987) and to have pregnancy complications (Baird, 1947). Perinatal mortality and prematurity rates were found to be high among short statured women (Barros, 1987).

Infanticide has been practiced in all continents, but little dependable primary data exist on this subject. Presented here are the findings on female infanticide for a rural, south Indian population.

STRONG preference for sons over daughters exists in the Indian subcontinent, east Asia, north Africa and west Asia unlike in the western countries [Muthurayappa et al 1997, Lancet 1990, Okun 1996].

IT is indeed a tall claim, almost an impossible task - to set in motion the immobile-to create spectators who would continue to perform.

Consequent upon the publication of the 1991 census preliminary results, one of the widely debated issues in India has been the declining sex ratio (defined as the number of females per 1000 males) in the country.

The Maharashtra government introduced a much-awaited and talked about bill in the state assembly: the Maharashtra Regulation of the Use of Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1988.

In l995, nurses and doctors in many of the public maternity ward in the state of Tamil Nadu in India were routinely inserting IUDs immediately following childbirth and abortions, as part of the target-orientated family, planning policy.