Female Infanticide - India

May 1997 In India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, female infanticide is so frequent that all second daughters are known as 'the girl born for the burial pit'. Desperately poor families routinely kill girl babies after birth for fear they can't afford to raise them or provide the extortionate dowry required by a groom's family. Pavati's husband killed her second daughter the day she was born. She went home to her father's house and didn't eat for a month following the death but with two other children she had to return to her tiny hut and carry on. Another baby, Hymera was luckier, brought to a safe house by her uncle despite fierce opposition from his neighbours. Now she is cared for by people who value her life. Teenage girls sit in a circle in a coconut grove discussing the strengths they will need as India's next generation of mothers. A report on the attempts of agencies, such as the Indian Council for Child Welfare, to stop infanticide through re-education, training of women and providing homes for unwanted girl babies. So far prosecuting local mothers for murder has done little more than punish the saddest victims of a social tragedy. Produced by ABC Australia Distributed by Journeyman Pictures