Will care of elderly save our girls?

A 13 week old aborted female fetus was found buried in Delhi. According to the police the parents have confessed that they already have a daughter and wanted a son. Abortion is not banned in India but gender determination using ultrasound is. But what if a woman has an abortion without ultrasound, because she already has 3 children and cannot afford any more, and the fetus turns out to be female? How will she prove that she did not undergo an ultrasound? Girls are regularly aborted, killed or abandoned in India. But why? The glib answer is that you need to pay a dowry when they get married. Dowry has been banned since 1961 so just refuse to pay and if the girl remains unmarried so be it. Educate all girls so that they can earn their own living and are independent. Are people afraid of the safety of their daughters, with so much violence against women in India? We see politicians regularly getting into trouble because of their sons. Rajasthan Chief Minister's son is being accused of having business links with Lalit Modi. The excesses of the Emergency were committed by Sanjay Gandhi but his mother never tried to stop him. Indira Gandhi would not be so unpopular if not for her blind love for her son. The Congress is preparing for Mr Rahul Gandhi to take over from his mother even if he has not succeeded in winning even one election till now. After the rout in the general election last year Congress workers were demanding that his sister, Priyanka should replace him. The President's son showed how incredibly insensitive he is by describing women as " highly dented and painted " after a woman was brutally raped and murdered in a bus in Delhi. Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee may be unmarried but her nephew, Abhishek can be an immense embarrassment when he threatens to gouge out the eyes of opponents. The son of the former Finance Minister, Karti Chidambaram lost his deposit in his father's constituency of Sivaganga which would presumably have been acutely embarrassing. There was huge controversy when 4 journalists were sentenced to prison by Delhi High Court for writing that sons of former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, YK Sabharwal were beneficiaries of his judgement, sealing high street shops in Delhi. DP Yadav has followed his son Vikas to life in prison, thereby proving the old axiom: like father like son. It really is a mystery why people have such preference for sons. It maybe that in Indian society daughters leave the family home after marriage whereas sons are supposed to look after aging parents. Perhaps a universal pension scheme, homes for old people and better health care for the aged will stop our girls getting killed. Laws do not seem to have worked so far anyway.