________________
seizing/ curbing doctors alone was not enough. We had to trace the people who were going to these doctors. In market language, we were cutting off the supply but what about the demand? We heard that some couples went off to different states to get their sex-determination test done. The ever-troubling question was still in front of us. Why these couples didn't want girls? We decided to find out the answers scientifically with the help of Gokhale Institute Of Political Science, Shirur Kasar Taluka was selected as survey area as it was the taluka with least number of girls. According to 2011 census, Shirur-Kasar had only 780 girls! We found 250 pregnant women who previously had a female child from the data of the health department. We contacted those families with the help of 'Asha' sevikas. Researchers from Gokhale institute had designed questions for these families. We did most of the groundwork such as selecting the right candidates for groundwork, taking interviews, collecting data etc. Then we sent this information to the institute. Gokhale institute had made similar research which outlined the belts of Sugarcane factories and milk production which had the least number of women. Gokhale institute was internationally renowned so the research was assumed to be very reliable. We also got financial support from Swiss Aid, an international organisation.
