Orphanage.Org

Last Sunday police in Bhopal arrested a doctor and janitor after discovering 400 bones (from fetuses and newborns) buried behind a hospital. According to the [1] Associated Press, the bones represent the remains of unwanted baby girls.

Selective abortion of female fetuses has led to a gender imbalance in India, where many districts report [2] 800 girls are born for every 1,000 boys. International non-profit groups estimate that 10 million female fetuses have been killed over the past 20 years.

The government is now determined to take action through what it is calling the “[3] cradle scheme”–essentially a plan to raise unwanted children in a series of yet-to-be-built orphanages.

“What we are saying to the people is have your children, don’t kill them. And if you don’t want a girl child, leave her to us,” says [4] Renuka Chowdhury, the country’s minister of state for women and children.

“We will bring up the children. But don’t kill them because there really is a crisis situation. We will have [5] cradles strategically placed all over the place so that people who don’t want their babies can leave them there.”