Ensuring Daughter Survival in Tamil Nadu, India

The South Indian state of Tamil Nadu is a relatively recent addition to the list of Indian states to experience the phenomenon of "missing girls". Nonetheless, the government and non-governmental organizations in the state have been active for some time in collecting data to track gender differences in survival and in introducing interventions to prevent daughter elimination. Against this background, this article has two aims. First, it provides a temporal and spatial analysis of patterns of daughter deficits in Tamil Nadu over the period 1996-2003. Second, it undertakes an examination of the modus operandi, underlying assumptions, strengths and weaknesses of various interventions and assesses their effect on daughter elimination.