The problem is also intimately tied to other social ills, notably the practice of dowry and the burden it imposes on the parents, and prospect of hunger and malnutrition, for those whose meagre resources are already stretched.

Non-governmental and voluntary organisations have realised that increased education and greater nutrition are the keys to addressing the myriad problems that lead to the atrocities of the kind mentioned in Ms Lees' article.

They have begun to address the problem in a modest but significant way, and the country has seen progress in tackling these issues.

Organisations such as the Pragat Shikshan Sansthan (Progressive Education Society) are helping to educate numerous children in Satara, Maharashtra.

CARE India is working with the Government of India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme, one of the world's largest nutrition and health care programmes of its kind for women and children, to provide food assistance to 6.6 million children in rural India, and to help women improve the health of their children through better pre-natal care, growth monitoring and promotion, immunisation, and management of diseases such as diarrhea.

In the field of education, while in the period 1981-1991 primary enrolment for boys grew by 2.5 per cent annually, for girls it grew by 3.7 per cent.

However, the literacy rate for those above seven years old remains at 39 per cent for females (only 28 per cent in Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states where infanticide is still seen), whereas it is 64 per cent for males, indicating that the dropout rate is significantly higher for girls.

Thus, education is another area requiring significant improvement to boost retention rates.

Clearly, much still remains to be done. One hopes that soon all newborns in India will get the love and care they deserve, and will not have to suffer the fate of the little girls in Bihar.

SANTANU MITRA Discovery Bay