If political parties really had the interests of India at heart, they?d stop making a fuss over interpreting the religious data thrown up by the just-released 2001 Census report. Instead, they?d focus on the now-notorious ?national ratio? that confirms the status of women in India ? 933 women for every 1,000 men in this country.

The low ratio of women to men in India shouldn?t come as a revelation: as recent studies have shown, the preference for the male child has received a boost with the practice of ?sex-selective abortion?, which is the polite term for the practice of killing off unwanted girls while they?re still in the womb. This has long been buttressed by older traditions: the neglect of girl babies, high rates of maternal mortality, the practice of allocating fewer resources in terms of food, healthcare and education to women.

But the debate over the 2001 Census has centred around religious markers: The decline of the Parsis, whether the Hindu rate of growth would have been higher if Jains had been included as Hindus (it would), whether the Muslim rate of growth would have been lower (it would) if the Census had adjusted for the fact that the previous Census reports didn?t count J&K, while this one does.

But I?m left wondering why those missing women ?67 women out of every 1,000 citizens, if you?d like a concrete way to visualise it ? are so unimportant. The BJP has found the time to express concern over everything from the sanctity of astrology to the fear that Muslims might outstrip Hindus in terms of birth rate. (Census officials have been pointing out that the revised data shows the Muslim growth rate has fallen by 3.6 per cent since 1991, while the Hindu growth rate is down by 2.8 per cent.) But in the brouhaha over whether there are more Muslim babies than Hindu ones, no one?s worried about a few missing female babies, religion unspecified.

How much effort would it take for our politicians to see the skewed gender ratio as a serious problem, one that underlines India?s status as a Third rather than First World nation? Why don?t we have politicians apologising for their abysmal track record when it comes to explaining to their constituents that killing girls is wrong?

I?d love to see a campaign by the Congress prioritising women?s rights and explaining to all those who want their malls and their hi-fi jobs that the most economically advanced countries in the world have an equal or high women-to-men birth ratio. I?d even settle for a BJP campaign explaining that since all women are devis, you?re killing off Lakshmi or Durga or Sita every time you decide to abort a female foetus. Or a non-denominational campaign saying that the real national crisis is what we?re doing to our girl children; that it?s a mark of shame that only 40.6 per cent of Muslim women and 45 per cent of Hindu women are literate; that it?s a scandal that only 32 per cent of Indian women are part of the work force.

But that would be asking politicians to take on real issues, not phantoms that can feed some kind of prejudiced frenzy. And besides, there?s nothing in it for them. Dead female foetuses and murdered girl babies can?t vote.