The Hindustan Times recently reported that “hundreds” of girls in Indore, as young as 1-5, are being operated on to turn them into boys.

The surgery is only supposed to be undertaken when a child's internal organs don't match their external organs (the HT uses the example of a child born with internal male organs but female genitals and hormones).

Dr. V. P. Goswami, the president of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics in Indore, told the Telegraph that “Genitoplasty is possible on a normal baby of both the sexes but later on these organs will not grow with the hormonal influence and this will lead to their infertility as well as their impotency.” He also warned that “Parents have to consider the social as well as the psychological impact of such procedures on the child.”

What some say they're considering is money. The Telegraph says sex selection abortions by families that “fear the high marriage costs and dowries” has altered the country's gender balance: “There are now seven million more boys than girls aged under six in the country.” Ranjana Kumari of the Centre for Social Research blames the rejection of girls on greed and called the surgeries “social madness.”

The HT reported today that state authorities and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have ordered inquiries into the issue.