Sex ratio is perhaps one of the most important sociodemographic indices which reflect the socio-economic and cultural ethos of a country, more so with reference to the status of its women.

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.

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)

While talking about law and homosexuality, I am reminded of a story of a washerman and his donkey. The donkey refused to move with the heavy bundle of clothes on his back from his house to the pond. The washerman nailed a carrot to a stick, which was tied in front of the animal's mouth.

We live in an era of paradoxes and contradictions - the reality was never so multifaceted, the issues never so complex. Everything around us seems to be melting and unfortunately the new forms acquired by the congealing of the molten mass leaves us little to rejoice at.