To save the girl child — invest

Like all well-planned crimes, Anil Sabhani and Kartar Singh, both doctors, had only pulled the triggers. The masterminds behind the killings are still walking free. The two good doctors are part of a fast-growing club of medical professionals using technology as a sex-seeking weapon of mass destruction. The duo had a code that would give many criminals a run for their crimes: if parents were told to collect the sex determination report on a Monday, it was a boy; if Friday, a girl. According to the Indian Medical Council, doctors like Sabhani and Singh have killed about 5 million foetuses through abortion; the Lancet puts it at 500,000.

Opinion in The Indian Express, March 29, 2006

Where’ll the Sensex be tomorrow?

Give some time flexibility to the last word — next week, next month, next year — and this headline could well be the most frequently asked question I’ve had to deal with, over the last 14 years or so. People of all hues, across all income groups and ages, in any profession, irrespective of the city they’re in, have asked me this question — the last of them being on a post-budget chat last week at expressindia.com. It is the third question I’m asked by total strangers (the first two being my name and job).

Opinion in The Indian Express, March 10, 2006