May 25, 2006 :: A rare sex ratio

It’s a pity that this must be celebrated as good news, but in a land where sex-determination of the unborn has led to a tragic fall in the birth of the girl child, this rare piece of news is welcome.

The Deccan Chronicle today reports that in village Lakhanpal in Jalandhar district of Punjab, there are 1,400 little girls for every 1,000 boys. The State’s average is 776 per 1000, the worst for India. The Panchayats Federation of Punjab recently held a meeting to facilitate Lakhanpal’s villagers, to which representatives from 42 villages were invited. The village is now to be rewarded with a brand new water supply scheme, quite apart from a substantial cash award. But then Lakhanpal achieved its humane success long before these rewards were on offer.