While it is laudable that the Indian government has made the effort to initiate a holistic reproductive health programme, its failure to address issues of sexuality that arise in this context is puzzling.

We use data from the 1981 and 1991 censuses of India to examine (a) sex ratios among infants aged under 2, (b) child mortality (q5) by sex, and (c) estimated period sex ratios at birth (SRB) calculated by reverse survival methods, to see whether bias against female children pers

The high female infant mortality rates (Miller, 1985); the practice of female infanticide (Krishnaswamy, 1988); the neglect of female children with regard to access to health services, nutrition, (Sen and Sengupta, 1983 and education (Mankekar, 1985); and the sexual abuse of girls (Bhalerao, 1985

In a vast, multi-ethnic, multi-religious country like India, it is to be expected that we have several world-views operating at the same time in people's search for health and healing.

Women use images of earthen pots breaking, flowers or fruits falling, to symbolize the loss of pregnancy. kachha ghada phoota (UP Rajasthan), phool jhade ( Madhya Pradesh), kaacho padi gayo (Rajasthan), garbha-alasyam (Kerala) are some of the terms used to describe miscarriages.

Cancer of the cervix is the most prevalent form of cancer in developing countries, and accounts for 25 to 50 per cent of all cancers occurring in Indian women.

India can take legitimate pride that it was one of the earliest nations to introduce a population policy, yet fertility control remains a most contentious problem of electoral politics of India in the 1990s.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, represents a significant update to India's existing abortion laws, reflecting evolving societal attitudes towards reproductive rights and healthcare.