Sex Ratio: India
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Child sex ratio
Child sex ratio in nine states worsens
Rema Nagarajan TIG
In many of India’s least developed states, girls are disappearing not so much from foeticide as from infanticide or just plain neglect of the girl child leading to more number of girls dying. This is revealed in the latest Annual Health Survey data of the census office, which shows a substantial fall in the sex ratio in the 0-4 years age group in several districts spread across nine states. Since many of these are the most populous states, this fall would account for lakhs of missing girls.
In fact, in four of the nine states, it is not just specific districts but the entire state that has seen a worsening of the 0-4 sex ratio. What is also worrying about this trend is that most of these states have traditionally had better sex ratios than the national average. The malaise, it appears, is growing even where it wasn’t much in evidence in the past. In a majority of the districts in these states, the sex ratio at birth has actually improved.
Child sex ratio: J’khand, Raj show maximum improvement
But about 84 of the 284 districts recorded a fall, even if in 31 of them the fall was marginal. The fall in sex ratio in the 0-4 age group is more widespread, with 127 districts exhibiting this trend,46 of them showing a significant drop. The census office has been conducting an annual health survey in nine states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Assam. A baseline survey conducted in 2007-09 has been followed up by similar ones in 2010 and 2011. Jharkhand, which had a relatively better sex ratio to begin with, and Rajasthan, which figured at the bottom of the pile, have shown the greatest improvement in both sex ratio at birth (SRB) and the 0-4 sex ratio.
States that started off with high sex ratio in both categories,such as Chhattisgarh and Assam, have recorded the biggest declines in 0-4 category along with Bihar and Odisha.
In UP, 30% of the districts recorded a fall in the 0-4 age group.In Chhattisgarh,the ratio fell in 13 out of 16 districts. As a result, the state’s 0-4 sex ratio fell from 978 to 965.
In Bihar, 21 of 37 districts registered a decline in 0-4 sex ratio.In Orissa,the0-4sex ratio declined in 21 outof 30districts. Uttarakhand had the worst sex ratio among these nine states to start with and despite showing some improvement, it continues to be the worst.
child sex ratio
Born Unequal? '
The Times of India Oct 27 2014
The child sex ratio (CSR), which is the number of girls aged 0 to 6 for every 1,000 boys of the same age, indicates the combined effect of extent of preand post-birth gender discrimination. But it is the sex ratio at birth (SRB) that gives an indication of pre-birth discrimination or female feticide. The Census office has estimated SRB by back calculations from the actual observed population to arrive at what is called the implied SRB in the period 1999-2000 and 2004-10. It was found that half the states in the country, barring J&K, for which comparisons aren't available, have seen the ISRB drop by between 3 points and 33 points, Uttarakhand registering the worst decline.
2007- 2013: Some improvements
Jan 02 2015
More girls are being born, but fewer surviving
Subodh Varma
There is good news and bad news on one of the key problems that haunts India -survival of the girl child. Sex ratio at birth, that is, number of girls born for every 1,000 boys born, has inched up from 906 to 909 between 2007 and 2013. This suggests that female feticide, the monstrous practice of killing off the girl baby in the mothers' womb has been somewhat checked.That's the good news.
The bad news is that the child sex ratio, that is, number of girls in the 0-4 year age group for every 1,000 boys in the same age group, has declined from 914 to 909 in the same period.
Information on sex ratios is made available by the Census office based on their sample registration system (SRS) annual surveys over the years.
Experts and activists say that the slight increase in sex ratio at birth is not very significant though it is a welcome trend. They feel that laws prohibiting sex selection are not very effective.
“Perhaps, in cities, there is some prevention of sex selection due to laws but there is spread of this heinous practice in rural areas and in regions where earlier it was not there,“ argues Kirti Singh, lawyer and women's rights activist.
Ravinder Kaur, professor at IIT Delhi who has studied sex ratios and related family issues also said that laws and campaigns have not contrib uted much in controlling sex selection. “Sex determination services are still available for those who seek them. The change is due more to complex social changes happening including fertility decline, improvements in socio-eco nomic circumstances, etc.“
But the slight uptick in sex ratio at birth is negated by what happens to girls who are born and survive. Neglect, discrimination and in extreme cases even killing of very young girls is behind dipping child sex ratio. “There is a tendency to give the girl less food, or not treat her sickness with the same urgency as a boy's. There are many court cases on deaths of small girls.All this points to deep discrimination against girls,“ Kirti Singh said.
The increases and decreases are small at the country level but at the state level sharper trends are visible. Again, these are good and bad.
The good news is that Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, which were the worst four states in terms of sex ratios both at birth and at the 0-4 age group, are the only states in the country where sex ratios at both levels are improving. Clearly , social outrage backed by better regulation has had some effect.In all four states, sex ratios are still below 900, pointing to the long road ahead.
But in six states -Assam, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal -sex ratio both at birth and in the 0-4 age group are going down.
This is worrisome because these are states which had better sex ratios and now appear to be heading the way some of the north Indian states went earlier.
Apart from the six states above, sex ratio at birth has also declined in Andhra Pradesh (pre-division), Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Himachal Pradesh. Child sex ratio has declined in Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, besides the six states.
“There is no common explanation for the decline in some of the eastern and southern states; again a mix of fertility shifts, rise of son preference due to spread of dowry in some of these states etc. are decisive factors,“ Ravinder Kaur said.
2011: Older mothers and the sex ratio
Mar 03 2015
Rema Nagarajan
Child sex selection seems to go up with the age of a mother, fresh data from Census 2011 shows. The sex ratio among children born to young mothers in the 15-19 age group was the highest, after which there was a steady decline till the 45-49 age group.This pattern held true across the country with no exception seen in any state, whether in rural or urban areas. The latest Census data on births that happened in the year preceding the survey showed that the ratio of number of girls to 1,000 boys, born to mothers in the 15-19 age group, was 938, way higher than the sex ratio of 899 for all children born during the year.
About 2.08 crore children were born in the year before the survey . The data showed that the sex ratio declined as the age of the mothers increased, falling from 927 and 897 in the 20-24 and the 25-29 age groups, respectively , to just 856 and 824 in the 40-44 and 45-49 age groups.
Since natural causes cannot explain this pattern, it appears this could be because, in the younger age group, where many of the children would be first-borns, there would be greater tolerance for girls. But, with advancing birth order and age of the mother, the pressure to produce a son would increase.
Interestingly, even in states with the best sex ratios, this pattern of a steep decline in the ratio with increasing age of the mother held true.
