Sex selection, jail time and the import of brides

There are a couple of interesting recent article on the BBC News website relating to sex selective abortion and changes in India. The first is about a doctor and his assistant who have been sentenced to two years in jail for revealing the sex of a female foetus and then agreeing to abort it. This is the first time this has happend in India since a law was introduced in 1994 banning the practice.

The second is about what is supposedly the increased import of bride to the state of Haryana, which is one of the states in India with the most unequal sex ratio.

Podcast on Microfinance

PRI's The World did a technology podcast about new ways of connecting developed countries small lenders with developing countries small borrows. You can listen here. Unfortunately, the links mentioned in the podcast are no longer available on their home page, but if you listen carefully enough you should be able to write them down yourself.

The Problems with Goats...

British Oxfam (one of the leading development NGOs) have a web site, Oxfam Unwrapped, where people can buy gifts that then goes to developing countries. According to the Times (the real one) the surprise hit of the Christmas shopping season was the goat, which costs GPD 24. From the "product description":

No if's or butts a goat is a great gift. Even the kids can get involved. You start with one and end up with a herd. They can then be sold to raise cash for school fees, or tools and start to reduce poverty. Best of all, the first female kid is given to another family and the process starts all over again. So why not invest in a goat?

Well, nothing is so good that it is not bad for something (normally the other way around I believe), so promtly The World Land Trust (WLT), also from the UK, have complained that the animals (you can also get a camel, calf or donkey) will have a “devastating environmental impact”. You can read more here.

PS Notice that the product decision specificly mentions kids. Next, someone will complaing that Oxfam is encouraging child labour!