The Indian-American century

On the Anglo-Indo-sphere

Ultrasound was first developed in the 1940s but it was in the following decade that British doctor Ian Donald applied it to obstetrics. The new technology allowed doctors to check for foetal abnormalities, but it could also detect the child’s sex, and when the cost of the device dramatically fell in the 1980s, ultrasound began to spread across south and east Asia - with a use never imagined by its pioneers.

In their millions, expectant parents in China, India, Pakistan and a number of other countries began to practise sex-selective abortions. China, with its oppressive one-child policy, saw the most extensive use, but it was also widespread in countries where daughters were more expensive to raise and marry off. In India this became common with Hindus and even more so with Sikhs, significantly less so among Muslims, and virtually unknown in Christian families.

The natural sex ratio at birth is 105 males for every 100 females, but with this new technology, and India’s legalisation of abortion in 1971, this began to rise, reaching a peak of 111 in 2010. This continued despite the Indian Supreme Court in 2001 ordering that a ban on ultrasound be enforced, and the practice of ‘gendercide’ being denounced by various religious leaders and the subject of official campaigns. In the last few years this imbalance has begun to ease, but among Indians in their twenties, there are millions more men than women. Among Indian-born Sikhs turning 24 next year, the ratio is an astonishing 130:100.