On a hot summer’s day in 1982, while walking through a jungle path in Bankura, West Bengal, anthropologist Naraya

The British first discovered female infanticide in India in 1789. Jonathan Duncan, then the resident in Benares province was asked by the Bengal council to settle the revenues in the province acquired by the raja of Benares.

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).

Child abuse manifests itself in several forms and dimensions - physical exploitation (child labour), emotional trauma (child prostitution) and marital harassment (child marriage).

INDIA IS A VAST country with a population of more than 844 million. The tribal populations of India constitute a significant proportion of India's total population. There are more than 400 tribal population groups constituting

Sexual abuse of children is an issue shrouded in ignorance and denial in our country. One of the chief reasons for this conspiracy of silence is the high value, almost idealization, of the family.

A society is judged by the way it treats its women and children. So is a judicial system. Nothing is more horrifying than the sexual abuse of a child: nothing more reprehensible than a judicial system that subsequently victimises the victim, police behaviour that adds terror to agony.

Though fertility is a biological phenomenon there are a number of other factors influencing the levels and differentials of fertility among tribals.