Indian families seem more interested in having boys than girls. There has been a significant decline in the number of girls born per 1,000 boys. It has plummeted from 909 during 2011-13 to 906 for the 2012-14 period, a government survey has found. The steepest fall is in Delhi from 887 to 876, Uttar Pradesh being next. The study by the Sample Registration System (SRS) 2014 reveals that the sex selection isn’t just confined to India’s centre regions but has also proliferated to states such as Tamil Nadu where the number dropped from 927 to 921. Globally, the ratio at birth is 950 or more per 1,000 boys every year.
The SRS Report. Renowned demographer Prof. PM Kulkarni said that the sex ratio had been inconsistent over the last few years. “Quite disappointing. We expected things to improve but perhaps there is some deterioration”, he said to Hindustan Times.
There has been an upturn in states like Punjab and Haryana which tabbed the worst in gender equality in 2001 and 2011. The SRS reports are based on annual charges in more than 8,800 recognised localities and villages. It would be apt to wait another year to see if the decline is a trend, said Kulkarni, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor (in a conference) Prof Mary E John, at a Delhi-based centre for Women’s Development Studies, said, “Studies reflects what I have observed during field visit and some of the census 2011 data”, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
There are two conclusions from the studies:
Firstly, the crackdown on ultrasound clinics should continue. “It is rampant as it was, in Delhi and elsewhere,”she says”. Secondly, The Government programmes aimed at correcting the sex ratio should be comprehensive and not a stop gap arrangement. John, who’s been researching sex ratio for 15 years, said the practice of gender selection appeared to have spread wider. Lack of job opportunities for women, patriarchy, gender discrimination have been the reasons why a girl child is welcomed in fewer families in India.
The Logical Indian urges every family to preach humanity over gender disparities and make this world a better place for a girl child!