It was an attempt to examine the facts behind the staggering figure of 13,000 dowry-related deaths recorded in the years 1998-99 in India. The second day today of the four-day international conference on "Dowry, bride-burning and son preference" at the International Youth Centre on Teen Murti Marg in the Chanakyapuri area here looked at the issue of dowry in the more "literate" States and found that education leading to better status of women might work as a theory but doesn't translate into practice. Looking at the issue of dowry in the country's most literate State, Kerala, Anna Lindberg of the University of Pennsylvania, said: "Kerala has a reputation of being a place where the status of women is higher than in other Indian States. It is said that son-preference and dowry-related deaths are absent. During the last 50 years, however, dowry has spread to almost all groups in Kerala