A recent United Nations study has pointed out the worsening trend in gender based sex selection practices – elimination of girl child during pregnancy – in the country.
The study says that though the north-west region, which has been traditionally infested with the malady has reached a plateau as far as the Child Sex Ratio (CSR) in the age group of 0-6 is concerned, the problem has spread slowly across the country.
The report, which was recently released by UN-Women and authored by Mary E John of Centre for Women’s Studies, points out the shift in the 2011 census where the practice reached its peak in the north-west region, and was spreading in large parts of the country. The report says that the provisional results of Census 2011 have added new twists to the saga.
Though CSR is still severe in the north-west, a slight improvement was observed. “It would appear that there has been a peaking (or plateauing) of the practice of sex selection in states like Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh with actual small improvements from very low levels in Punjab and Chandigarh,” it stated.
The national level CSR improved from 933 girls per 1000 boys in 2001 to 943 in 2011. In worst affected areas there was a slight improvement. In Uttar Pradesh it improved from 898 to 912, in Punjab from 876 to 895, in Haryana 861 to 879 and in Delhi 821 to 868. The report says that the malady has spread across states in every zone.
“Whatever the extent and nature of positive change in north-west India, CSRs are falling in large parts of western, central and eastern India – Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and even Andhra Pradesh has joined the ranks from among the southern states,” the report says.
The report terms it as the widening of the circle, “In other words, the state wise figures demonstrate a widening of the circle, well beyond the so-called prosperity belt of north-west India, to the poorer states.” The study has also noted some micro-level trends at district levels in worst affected district where CSRs are very low. In these areas no one prefers a family with only girls.
The report pointed out that the district of Fatehgar Sahib in Punjab demonstrated the presence of families with just one son, but very few with only girls.