In Punjab’s cotton belt, everyone knows this story. In the sleepy village of Badrukhan in Punjab’s Malwa region, over two  centuries ago, a family buried alive its newly-born daughter. But when a holy man refused to accept food from the household, it  went back to dig out the earthen pot and found the baby alive. Years later, she grew into a beautiful woman known to history as the mother of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Raj Kaur was lucky, but across Malwa, many Raj Kaurs are finding their graves even before they are born. Census 2001 shocked the nation as sex ratio figures clearly showed too many Punjabis were killing their daughters.

As the grave reality sunk in, and a string of seminars and awareness camps were unleashed upon the cotton belt where sex ratio figures were abysmally low, something else happened which was too queer. Tens of ultra sound clinics across Bathinda, Mansa, Ferozepur and Faridkot, which made fortunes by whispering answers to boy-or-girl queries started sporting huge signboards saying ``No gender prediction test.’’ ``Why do you think the clinics have spent thousands of rupees on neon signboards saying it does not offer any boy-or-girl test? It is the only safest way to advertise,’’ a doctor in Mansa said in the presence of his patients who all seemed to know what the signboards really mean.

But if so many know Raj Kaur’s story, then why haven’t the moral of the story got disseminated? Here is the skewed lesson from history that the son-fixated people spew out: ``Why have Raj Kaur in the family when you can have Ranjit Singh?’’ Trust a crook to skew the logic. In the gurdwara in Bhopalan village on the Bathinda-Mansa road, the granthi (local priest) has added a new feature to the daily prayer. So the congregation prays to the Almighty to bless everyone with the awareness that daughters are as important as boys.  ``The Akal Takht has also issued a hukumnama on this,’’ school teacher Jagroop Singh said in Jakhepal village, but immediately became the subject of considerable ire of those around him. ``So does everyone follow the edict now? Obviously, so many are ignoring it and indulging in female foeticide.

The problem lies in the dowry menace. Let the government and Akal Takht ban dowry completely and you will see the sex ratio will take the sensex route,’’ countered his fellow teacher Gurnam Singh. ``So far, the authorities’ pressure against the unscrupulous ultra sound clinics has only raised the cost,’’ said ex-sarpanch of the village Karnail Singh. He said people still go to Sangrur, Sunam, Bathinda and even nearby Sirsa in Haryana to find out the sex of the child. Female foeticide in Malwa is the worst kept secret. Just step into any of the Malwa village schools and the boisterous bunch of boys outnumbering the girls gives away the entire story. In Mansa’s Malakpur village school, the 5-11 year age group has 122 boys and 91 girls. Mansa Khurd village has 101 boys and just 53 girls.