SAVING THE GIRL CHILD
The alarming decrease in the number of girls born, particularly in countries like India,
vis-à-vis the number of boys in India has been a matter of wide spread publicity for
many years. In India, very low sex ratio are believed to be a result of lower birth rate
combined with a population wealthy enough to be able to afford the illegal ultrasound
test to determine the sex of a foetus.
Infact, when we look at states that meet these criteria, we find just that. Punjab,
Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi do, in fact, have the lowest sex ratios at birth
in India in the 800 – 850 range in 2004 – 2006, according to the Sample Registration
System (SRS) of the Registrar General of India.
In order to evaluate the extent of the problem, we must look at the data from 2001
census, which provides very fine level geographic detail. In 2001, there were 50 villages
in Punjab where not even a single girl, aged 0 – 6, was enumerated. There were an
additional 500 villages where there were fewer than 500 girls per 1000 boys 0 –
6.Statewise, that number was 798. This is a demographic phenomenon unprecedented
in the country’s history. The child sex ratio varied from 758 among Jains to 879 among
Muslims.
Both wealth and a lower birth rate do play a role . In the 2001 census, the proportion of
children aged 0 – 6 in Punjab among scheduled castes was 15.44 percent while it was
12.04 percent among other castes. Clearly SC’s have a higher birth rate and, of course,
are at the lower end of the wealth spectrum. Are SC’s less likely to abort female foetus?
The sex ratio of 0 – 6 among SC’s in 2001 was 861 girls per 1000 boys, compared to
just 767 for non-SC’s.
It should be noted that a normal sex ratio in the child population is 950 since there are 5
percent more boys born worldwide than girls, a simple biological fact. These data for sc
and non-sc populations bear out the suspicion that greater wealth provides the financial
means to seek a sex-selective abortion and that a low birth rate places additional
pressure on couples to abort a female foetus.
At least in some areas, it may be that defense of the girl child is showing results. SRS
figures show that sex ratio in Punjab rose from 775 in 1991-2001 to 808 in 2004-2006;
from 803 to 837 in Haryana; 858 to 872 in Himachal Pradesh and 837 to 865 in Gujarat.
No significant improvement was howsoever recorded in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Interestingly enough the ratio in Maharashtra declined from 915 in 1999-2001 to 879 in
2004-2006 and in Rajasthan also from 885 to 855 during the same period.
We can probably expect that problem will become worse nationwide unless quite
serious steps are taken.
Son preference is rooted not only in the economic reality of a male birth vs. a female
birth. It is that problem which lies at the heart of the current demographic and
humanitarian crisis and that is where it must be attacked.