It is unfortunate that a measure of confusion has set in about the precise nature and ramifications regarding the immolation - whether self, sati, or otherwise of the 55-yearold Charan Shah on the funeral pyre of her husband at Satpura in Uttar Pradesh on November 11.

The self-immolation by Charan Shah on the funeral pyre of her husband in a remote hamlet in Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh has elicited a spate of articles dealing with the practice of Sati. Of these, a number of articles by Ms.

It was in Deorala village in Rajasthan on September 3, 1987 that the last incident of sati was reported. Then an 18-year-old Roop Kanwar had committed sati by jumping into the funeral pyre of her 23-year-old Rajput husband, Maal Singh.

Information on the determinants of contraceptive failure and the effects or outcome of such failure has important implications for the study of fertility as well as for women's health.

With the increase in the urbanization and industrialization, the concept of family in India, which once was to create and maintain a common culture among the members of the family, is undergoing changes.

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,

Abortion is possibly the most divisive women's health issue that policy makers and planners face particularly in developing countries where safe abortion facilities are not available to most women. The health risk of abortion multiplies manifold if a woman has to resort to it repeatedly.

The MCH services are offered at Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and their subcenters in the rural areas, and by general hospitals, women's and children's hospital and MCH centers run by State Health Departments and also through Municipal and Voluntary Organizations in the urban areas.

As with Bhanwari Devi, gross injustice was committed in the Roop Kanwar sati case, when yet another session court in Rajasthan, acquitted all 32 of the accused in October last year.