Srinagar:These days the local newspapers are full of news that many newborn babies are being discarded in every nook and corner. The report about anew born baby lying in a manhole in front of the Emergency ward of theSher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura before few days brought usall to tears. Another picture of an infant girl wrapped in a towel and dumpedinto a drain in Tamil Nadu is equally ghastly. What is wrong with our society?How stone-hearted can the parents of a new born baby be to throw their ownbeating heart in a trash bin? How did we allow our society to plumb to suchdepths that we are now comparing ourselves to the ‘medieval ages’ of Europe orto the pre-Islam ‘dark ages of Arab world? The crucial aspect is the very factthat a good number of these children are discarded because they are born out ofillegitimate affairs and do not have the sanction of the society. Thus, afterbeing born they are thrown away. At this point we need to seriously go back tothe good old days where moral values were taught by the elders of the Muhalla.These days our teenagers are too busy with their cell phones that they have notime to listen to religious preaching of the elderly. Another, vicious thingensnarling the valley is the rise in the cases of extra-marital affairs.Kashmiri society has its own aesthetic sense. Our society is a well-knitsociety with strong kinship bonds. Even during pre-Islamic era women wasrespected in Kashmir. Islam brought a renewed honor for women as it gave herthe right to own from the parent’s property. It was for the first time that areligion allowed women to acquire knowledge and get property rights. It isamazing that at such a place female new born babies are being discarded inKashmir. It is amazing that out of the so many new born babies thrown industbins a good majority are female babies. Society needs to ponder in thisdirection also. T he government c an do a g reat f avor to society to increasethe number of CCTV cameras in the hospital vicinity and at the same time thepolice should take strictest possible action against the perpetrators of thisghastly crime.