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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | India's declining sex ratio: Numbers are not the only deceptive thing

India's declining sex ratio: Numbers are not the only deceptive thing

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published Published on Feb 12, 2019   modified Modified on Feb 12, 2019
-The Telegraph

There is a need to look beyond education as the means to counter the bias against girls

Numbers seldom tell their own story faithfully. The civil registration system of birth and deaths in 2016 reveals that there has been a steep decline in the sex ratio at birth in the southern states, known for their high literacy rates. In 2016, Andhra Pradesh ranked with Rajasthan with 806 girls per 1,000 male children, Tamil Nadu was sixth from the bottom with 840, and in Karnataka the figure was 896 against a ‘normal’ of 943-980. Conversely, states with traditionally poor sex ratios at birth like Rajasthan, Haryana and West Bengal have recorded a slow, but steady, improvement. Evidently, there is a need to look beyond education as the means to counter the bias against girl children. In fact, a 2015 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India indicated that higher literacy rates provided easier access to sex-selective procedures like amniocentesis and sperm or embryo selection. While education cannot be discounted, it is not enough to root out a generations-old prejudice. This is borne out by census data which show that young graduate mothers gave birth to 899 girls per 1,000 boys, against the national average of 943 girls in 2011. But when education is supplemented by a change in social customs influenced by changed gender perceptions — leading to women travelling alone, making independent decisions and getting an opportunity to use their education just like men — the sex ratio is known to improve as it did in Gove, Rajasthan.

What also needs to be re-examined is the array of reasons behind the preference for male children. The widespread prevalence of dowry is still a consideration — last year, a study linked a rise in gold prices to a fall in the number of girls who survive the first month of their lives. But another factor is the parents’ desire to be taken care of in old age. And what chance do women stand in this respect, given that the ratio of female workers to the population was 25.8 per cent in 2016 and the gender pay gap was 20 per cent?

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The Telegraph, 6 February, 2019, https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/beti-bachao-campaign-and-india-s-declining-sex-ratio-numbers-are-not-the-only-deceptive-thing/cid/1683797?ref=most-read_opinion-


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