Education is accorded a high priority in development policy in most countries, including India.

Education is a fundamental requirement for enhancing overall quality of individual and societal life.

Every year, as millions of women marry, they dream of starting a family, of having their homes filled with tiny cries and the happy laughter of gurgling babies. In India however, pregnancy is too often followed by the question of
whether the unborn child is a girl or a boy.

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)

The statement, tucked away in one of the many thick Agrawal Samaj magazines I had been perusing, made me smile.