Maha sees frightening drop in child sex ratio….Madhavi Rajadhyaksha
Mumbai : In a disturbing trend indicative of a strong male bias,Maharashtra has recorded a dismal child sex ratio of 883 girls per 1,000 boys,according to the provisional figures for Census 2011 released on Thursday.Maharashtras ratio,calculated for children aged up to 6 years,stands well below the national average of 914 girls per 1,000 boys.It has a lower ratio than states that are traditionally considered backward,like Bihar,Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Maharashtras performance has dropped significantly from the 2001 census,when it had 913 girls per 1,000 boys.Incidentally,the national average of 914 is also the worst India has had since Independence.
Demographers and social experts say the trend in Maharashtra could imply that sex-selective abortions are being conducted across the state.The imbalance is particularly worrying given that states like Haryana and Punjab,which were the worst performers in the last census,have shown an improvement.Most southern states too are above the national average, said P Arokiasamy of the International Institute of Population Sciences,Deonar.
The drop in Maharashtra over the past decade is frightening and speaks of the overall neglect of girl children.A closer look reveals that nearly 4.69 lakh girls are missing in the state,which shows that Maharashtra has not taken the practice of fighting sex determination seriously, said activist Sabu George,who says there would be that many more girls if the ratio was equal.George has been fighting for better implementation of the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act,1994.The law has existed in the state for over two decades, he said.
Saying we should wait for figures for the sex ratio at birth to get a more correct picture,Anuja Gulati,of the United Nations Population Fund,nevertheless said,The trend is disturbing and we intend to undertake a lot more research to find out the root causes of discrimination towards girls. She said poor child sex ratios could be attributed to several factors,like migration patterns,girls getting lesser access to healthcare or under-reporting of girl births.