Sex Ratio: India
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To this Gandhi was quick to point that, “While the programme which the West Bengal government has launched on its own is effective, it is the only state in India which has completely refused to implement Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme. As a result, out of 161 districts, Kolkata is showing a severe declining trend“. Gandhi said out of the 161 districts where BBBP has been implemented, 104 districts have shown an increasing trend in sex ratio at birth. | To this Gandhi was quick to point that, “While the programme which the West Bengal government has launched on its own is effective, it is the only state in India which has completely refused to implement Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme. As a result, out of 161 districts, Kolkata is showing a severe declining trend“. Gandhi said out of the 161 districts where BBBP has been implemented, 104 districts have shown an increasing trend in sex ratio at birth. | ||
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Besides North Sikkim, the districts Gandhi highlighted are Karnal where sex ratio is up from 758 to 884, Saiha in Mizoram where the trend reversed from 915 girls per 1,000 boys to 1,022 girls. “In Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, it has gone up from 856 to 957; in Ghaziabad, it has gone up from 899 to 977; in Mansa in Punjab, it has gone up from 857 to 925; in Una in Himachal Pradesh, it has gone up from 857 to 904; in Rewari, it has gone up from 803 to 846 and in Jhansi it has gone up from 860 to 900,“ Maneka said. “You can see from this that it is across the board. It really is dependent on the enthusiasm of the state government and the ability and enthusiasm of the district head. We seem to have done well across the board,“ she emphasised. | Besides North Sikkim, the districts Gandhi highlighted are Karnal where sex ratio is up from 758 to 884, Saiha in Mizoram where the trend reversed from 915 girls per 1,000 boys to 1,022 girls. “In Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, it has gone up from 856 to 957; in Ghaziabad, it has gone up from 899 to 977; in Mansa in Punjab, it has gone up from 857 to 925; in Una in Himachal Pradesh, it has gone up from 857 to 904; in Rewari, it has gone up from 803 to 846 and in Jhansi it has gone up from 860 to 900,“ Maneka said. “You can see from this that it is across the board. It really is dependent on the enthusiasm of the state government and the ability and enthusiasm of the district head. We seem to have done well across the board,“ she emphasised. | ||
Revision as of 15:09, 13 September 2017
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Child sex ratio: the extent of the problem
1999-2010: Sex ratio at birth (SRB)
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 pre and 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.
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.
2011: Rural India beats cities in sex tests
[ From the archives of the Times of India]
Kounteya Sinha | TNN
An analysis of Census 2011 by the Union health ministry on the eve of the crucial meeting of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act’s (PC & PNDT Act) Central Supervisory Board (CSB) has shown that the hideous crime against a girl child has become more prevalent among families in rural India.
Consider Delhi, where sex selection was common among the urban population. Census 2011 says Delhi’s rural childsex ratio (CSR) fell by 41 points against just two points in urban areas. West Bengal’s rural CSR dipped by 11 points compared to five points in urban areas. Rural CSR in Jammu and Kashmir fell by 97 points as against 19 points in urban CSR. Uttarakhand saw a similar trend. Rural CSR in the hill state fell by 24 points against a dip of 8 points in urban areas. In Chhattisgarh, rural CSR fell by 10 points against six points in urban areas. Madhya Pradesh too recorded a massive drop in rural CSR — minus 22 points against a fall of 12 in urban settings.
Rajasthan’s rural CSR fell by 28 points against 18 points in urban areas, while Sikkim’s CSR fell by 14 points among its rural families. Nagaland saw a massive tumble of its rural CSR: it fell by 37 points, while urban areas saw an increase by 40 points. Maharashtra saw a 36-point fall in its rural CSR against a 20-point dip in urban areas. Andhra Pradesh, Lakshadweep and Goa also recorded a fall in their rural CSR. A Union ministry official said, “Overall across India, child-sex ratio fell by 15 points in rural India as against 4 points in urban India. Earlier, sex selection was more an urban phenomenon. Now, the trend has clearly shifted to rural areas. One of the main reasons for this is portable ultrasound machines. Operators of these machines and doctors realized that the market was in rural India.” This is why India has decided to ban unregistered “on call” portable ultrasound machines. Agenda number V of the CSB meeting says, “amendment with regard to regulation of portable ultrasound equipment to curb their widespread misuse”.
An increasing number of portable ultrasound machines are being registered as being “on call”, or they could be taken anywhere anytime to conduct an ultrasound test. Delhi was the first state to register such “on-call” portable ultrasound machines, a trend that has spread across the country. An official added, “Such portable machines are being taken in two-wheelers to conduct the sex determination of an unborn child.”
India has about 35,000 ultrasound clinics. Earlier, studies had said about 5-7 lakh girls a year, or 2,000 girls a day go missing in India due to female feticide.
2011: the best and worst states
See graphic ‘’': The sex ratio in the Indian states, the best and worst states in 2011
2011, sex ratio
See graphic: Sex Ratio in 2011
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.
2015-16: the best and worst districts
Ambika Pandit|`Beti Bachao' helps bridge sex-ratio gap|Jul 29 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
North Sikkim is on top and Kolkata is the worst in the list of districts evaluated for child-sex ratio. While North Sikkim has moved from 831girls per 1,000 boys in 2014 to a remarkable 1009 girls, Kolkata which boasted of a sex ratio of 1,022 girls per 1,000 boys is down to 898 girls.
“In fact, Kolkata is unfortunately the worst of 161 districts that we have taken,“ said women and child welfare minister Maneka Gandhi in the Lok Sabha on Friday , sharing details of districts selected under the `Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' programme.
Gandhi's remarks saw Mriganka Mahato, Trinamool MP from Purulia, cite the success of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's `kanyashree' programme launched in 2011 and requested the Centre that the programme be taken up by other states too.
To this Gandhi was quick to point that, “While the programme which the West Bengal government has launched on its own is effective, it is the only state in India which has completely refused to implement Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme. As a result, out of 161 districts, Kolkata is showing a severe declining trend“. Gandhi said out of the 161 districts where BBBP has been implemented, 104 districts have shown an increasing trend in sex ratio at birth.
Besides North Sikkim, the districts Gandhi highlighted are Karnal where sex ratio is up from 758 to 884, Saiha in Mizoram where the trend reversed from 915 girls per 1,000 boys to 1,022 girls. “In Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, it has gone up from 856 to 957; in Ghaziabad, it has gone up from 899 to 977; in Mansa in Punjab, it has gone up from 857 to 925; in Una in Himachal Pradesh, it has gone up from 857 to 904; in Rewari, it has gone up from 803 to 846 and in Jhansi it has gone up from 860 to 900,“ Maneka said. “You can see from this that it is across the board. It really is dependent on the enthusiasm of the state government and the ability and enthusiasm of the district head. We seem to have done well across the board,“ she emphasised.
2013?: Child sex ratio nine states worsens
Child sex ratio in nine states worsens (in 2013??)
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.
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 districtsexhibiting thistrend,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 asChhattisgarh 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 declinedin 21outof 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.
2014: No improvement in sex ratio
The Times of India, Aug 28 2015
Alarm over sex ratio failing to improve
There is cause for concern as Delhi's sex ratio remains low with the civil registration data putting it down at 896 females per 1,000 males in 2014. This is just one point up from the 2013 sex ratio status.The data only underlines the urgency required for the Delhi government to focus deeply on implementation of the provisions of Pre-Conception PreNatal Diagnostic Techniques Act to prevent illegal sex determination and female foeticide. The data was released as part of the annual report on registration of births and deaths in Delhi in 2014 by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday . A crackdown on clinics illegally carrying out sex determinay tion and executing abortions is the need of the hour, say experts working on gender and women's rights.
The sex ratio was merely 809:1,000 in 2001 and showed a gradual rise to 848:1,000 in 2007. There was a dramatic improvement in 2008 at 1,004 females per 1,000 males. This was attributed to the implementation of the Ladli scheme for girls that year. The sex ratio, however, again saw a decline but was still high at 915:1,000 in 2009. But the decline continued next year when it touched 901:1,000 and then went further down to 893:1,000 in 2011 and 886:1,000 in 2012. In 2013 there was some improvement with the ratio up nine points at 895:1,000. In 2014 it moved up only by one point.
The national conference of chief registrars (births & deaths) held in 2003 had unanimously recommended monitoring of the sex ratio on a regular basis at the state and union territory levels, taking into account the alarming decline. Complying with that mandate, Delhi has been doing monthly monitoring of sex ratio of institutional births since 2004.
The data is collected on a monthly basis from 50 major hospitals which accounts for 51.97% of the total registered births in 2014 in Delhi. This helps to review the sex ratio at the highest level in the shortest possible time without waiting for yearly indicators. The sex ratio on the basis of institutional births on the basis of these hospitals comes out to 894:1,000 for 2014.
Causes
Region, more than faith, dictates gender skew
The Times of India, Aug 26, 2015
The gender skew varies significantly between religious communities with the sex ratio (number of females for every 1,000 males) among Sikhs being as low as 903 and among Christians as high as 1,023, according to Census 2011 data released on Tuesday . The good news is that compared to 2001, the sex ratio has improved in each of India's six largest religious groups, the most impressive improvement being among Muslims (from 936 to 951) and the lowest among Hindus (from 931 to 939).
A look at the state-wise data reveals however that cultural factors seem to have a much larger influence on the sex ratio than religious affiliation. Thus, even among the Christians, the sex ratio in Punjab is 913 and in Haryana 924 while being 1,051 in Kerala.
Similarly, among Hindus, most of the northwestern states have sub-900 sex ratios, in Kerala the ratio is even higher than for Christians at 1,077. Incidentally , the Muslim sex ratio in Kerala is 1,125. It is of course possible that these figures are to some extent also effected by predominantly male migration to the Gulf, but there clearly is a larger social context of sex selection at birth not being as prevalent in the state as in some parts of north India.
Another southern state which has in recent years been able to redress the gender balance to some extent, Tamil Nadu, exhibited a similar trend with sex ratios being in the high 900s or even over 1,000. Similarly, almost every religious group in Chhattisgarh has a higher sex ratio than its all-India average. This is in line with the trend of tribal societies tending to be less gender skewed.
In sharp contrast to this, in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, like in Punjab or Haryana, each religious community has a worse sex ratio than its all-India average. Given the fact that there is a substantial migration of males looking for jobs from these states, the actual gender skew is likely to be even worse than the data suggests.
What is clear, therefore, is that while religion may play some part in determining whether or not sex selection takes place and to what extent it does, the larger cultural mileu of a state or region seems.
Haryana
Progressive Haryana Khaps
India Today, April 20, 2015
Asit Jolly
Haryana's patriarchal hinterland is witnessing the beginnings of a social transformation-the emergence of khap panchayats with a conscience that value women
A rapt audience of women-recently betrothed daughters, young housewives, mothers clutching infants, mothers-in-law, many grandmothers-nodding in unison as a young, recently commissioned woman police officer tells them why it is imperative to send girls to school; why they must resist any attempts to restrict women; why daughters and daughters-in-law must be honoured equally; why honour killings are a thing of the dark ages.
It's not an unusual setting, except that this is happening deep inside the intensely patriarchal Haryanvi hinterland.
The February 19 congregation in Bibipur village, 10 km along the highway from Jind to Bhiwani, was special in many ways. Besides the incredulously astute bunch of women, the menfolk were there too. Alongside Anita Kundu, a young woman from a landless, middle-class family of Uklana in Hisar who landed a job as sub-inspector in Haryana Police after she scaled Mount Everest in May 2012, Captain Mahavir Lohan, chief of Hisar's all-powerful Satrol khap-a caste council speaking for 44 villages-was there, equally vehement against the scourge of female foeticide and 'killing to preserve family honour'. On the day, the fringes of the quaint gathering at Bibipur's rather unique mahila choupal (women's village gathering) were crowded over with young and old members of the Nogama (nine villages) khap, each avidly voluntarily giving up his chair as more and more women walked in.
Located in the centre of Haryana's khapland, the events in Bibipur are significant and very possibly the earliest signs of what could potentially snowball into significant social transformation-khap panchayats with a conscience.
It started back on July 14, 2012 when Bibipur's young sarpanch Sunil Jaglan, 32, the proud father of two daughters, convened a mahapanchayat of 112 khaps representing rural communities across Haryana, Rajasthan, Western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi and inspired them to unanimously endorse a joint resolution demanding capital punishment for female foeticide.
"It wasn't easy," says Ritu, the sarpanch's 29-year-old sister recalling the "discomfiture" of the elders. "They were simply not used to women talking down to them," she recalls. "Jab mai bolne uthi to charcha ka vishey ban gaya (When I got up to address them, it became a topic of discussion)."
But not for long, Jaglan remembers the day: "Women participated without restraint, questioning senior khap leaders, for the first time, without fear." The unshakeable pradhans (leaders) capitulated. Years after the laws of the land proscribed sex-selection, khap elders unanimously concurred to demand that foeticide be equated with murder.
Jaglan says the khap leaders' willingness to endorse a resolution against the age-old preference for male progeny across Jat-predominant communities in northern India was driven by a growing awareness and heightening concern over dangerously skewed adult sex ratios that are set to become even sharper given highly distressing SRB (sex ratio at birth) being reported from scores of villages. Haryana for instance has an average statewide sex ratio of 879 women per 1000 men according to the 2011 Census. But there is a horrific story currently unfolding in the villages.
Data available with the state health department exposes the shocking truth and is perhaps why Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to launch his flagship 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign from Haryana on January 24, when he fervently exhorted its people "not to kill daughters".
More than half-3,974 out of 7,363 -of the villages in the state reported an SRB (0 to 1 year) below 500 in 2013. These include Gajarpur in Mewat district, Kharal in Jind, Bopur in Kaithal and Suri village in Panchkula where the ratio stood abysmally low between 76 and 143 females per 1000 male births. There are some 2,400 villages including a few small hamlets that failed to report the birth of even a single girl child in 2013.
Ram Niwas, Haryana's additional chief secretary in charge of the state health department, says increasingly skewed sex ratios reflect the hard truth and can no longer be wished away. "It is true. More and more girls are being killed in the womb," he says, warning that the situation, already critical, could in time result in a "virtual collapse of rural Haryanvi society".
Niwas points to the presence of scores of bachelors simply unable to find brides in almost every village. The telling dearth of women consequent to the prevalent practice of foeticide, younger members of the Nogama and Satrol khaps say, becomes even more acute with the gotra or kinship codes enforced strictly by most khap panchayats. According to him the landmark 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act giving daughters an equal share as sons in the inheritance of ancestral property and the consequent familial disputes have only refuelled the preference for male children.
Anil Kumar and Suneel Lamba, young farmers in their mid-20s from Jind, don't see themselves settling down anytime soon. They say "it is almost as difficult finding a bride as it is getting a government job in Haryana". Both men actively participate in khap meetings with the singular aim of nudging more tradition-bound elders into slackening restrictions on marital alliances.
Evidently alive to the problem and encouraged by younger members to ring in change, on April 20, 2014, the Satrol khap voted unanimously to reverse a 650-year-old tradition. For the first time in centuries, the khap leaders proclaimed that they would endorse and support inter-village marriages as well as weddings between castes.
Jaglan, who attended the Satrol panchayat in Hisar as a special invitee, sees the decision as "historic and revolutionary". Significantly, the sarpanch says, "they (leaders of the Satrol khap) also decided to recognise love marriages." According to Lohan, the khap now offers a cash incentive of Rs 21,000 for every inter-caste marriage solemnised within its area. Also responding to long-standing criticism, women are now actively encouraged to participate and speak in khap meetings.
Interestingly, khap leaders are employing historical precedent to demolish what has been viewed as inviolable tradition: Lohan cites an early 1960s instance when Ghasiram Malik, then head of the Malik clan, publicly blessed a marriage between a couple sharing the same gotra. He recalls how the old khap chief had proclaimed that the couple's child would be an "asli Malik". Lohan also narrates a past instance when an old Zaildar of the Satrol khap had openly questioned the practice of marrying daughters in barren and un-irrigated areas outside the highly fertile 44-village collective.
Just weeks after the Satrol khap announced its changes last April, Bhiwani's most prominent Sangwan khap too proclaimed it would bless both inter-caste as well as inter-religion marriages.
But many activists and scholars remain sceptical. D.R. Chaudhry, formerly a teacher at Delhi University, says the changes are "cosmetic and driven essentially by the compulsion of circumstances". "Inka dimaag their basic-anti-lower caste and misogynistic-mindset is unchanged," he says. Even if a trifle grudgingly, Chaudhry however acknowledges the efforts by Jaglan and his colleagues in Bibipur.
Besides the role he played in instigating change in Satrol and other khaps, Sunil Jaglan, who was elected sarpanch of Bibipur in June 2010, has single-mindedly pursued an agenda to include the womenfolk of his village. His move to involve the khaps and get them to endorse a resolution against female foeticide in July 2012 may not have paid off significantly in inspiring wider relaxations on questions of inter-caste and inter-gotra marriages but it is a vital beginning.
At the rural congregation on February 19, incidentally the 50th such event since January 24, 2012, Bibipur's womenfolk were decidedly more vocal than the men. Santosh Devi, whose only estimate of her own age is the memory that she "was already bearing children when Pakistan was formed", cheered the loudest when Jaiwanti Sheokand, one of the speakers and a former IAS officer, declared that "a girl can never go 'bad' by going to school and reading books".
Bibipur's women, many of them casting off the traditional ghunghat (veil), were happily at home with sub-inspector Anita Kundu in her hip-hugging jeans, sneakers and closely cropped hair. "I wish I too had a daughter like you," a woman said to her. Kundu smiled and told her: "Your girl will be exactly like me, just make sure she goes to school."
Statistics on women's education in Haryana are almost as damning as the data on missing girl children. Jaglan says "barely 20 per cent of the school-going girls make it to colleges simply because their parents fear they will be sexually targeted going to or coming back from institutions that are invariably some distance away in cities". The panchayat is currently campaigning hard for the state government to provide 'secure last-mile connectivity' for rural girl students.
In 2014, the Bibipur panchayat adopted a formal resolution giving women complete control over 50 per cent of all cash awards and one-time grants to the village. Jaglan and his friends (the village women included) hope that progressively more and more khap leaders will pay heed and break with dubious traditions.
In the meantime though, this happy hamlet is swimming against the tide in celebrating its women: a gate at the entrance to the village makes a point of welcoming visitors to "Bibipur-the Women's World".
Haryana: villages where girls outnumber boys
Rainwali does Haryana proud — 2,750 girls for 1,000 boys
Sukhbir Siwach,TNN | Aug 11, 2014 The Times of India
Rainwali
According to latest figures of the state health department, child sex ratio in the hamlet, Rainwali, is 2,750 girls against 1,000 boys, something unheard of in Haryana.
Haryana, known for its dubious distinction of having the worst child sex ratio in the country, has reasons to cheer about a small village in Fatehabad district.
According to latest figures of the state health department, child sex ratio in the hamlet, Rainwali, is 2,750 girls against 1,000 boys, something unheard of in Haryana. As per 2011 census, Haryana's child sex ratio was just 834 girls for 1,000 boys in 0-6 age group -- worst in the country.
Rainwali, located near Punjab border, has around 1,800 inhabitants, with a significant number of residents belonging to dalit backward classes.
Village sarpanch Gurkirat Singh, who is unaware of the development, gives credit to authorities for improvement in sex ratio. "No doctor here wants to take risk...They are very careful about the ultrasound tests also. They conduct ultrasound test only after getting the application counter-signed by village sarpanch," he said.
"We love our daughters like our sons," said Singh, who has won all elections for village sarpanch post since 1982, barring one.
Khan Mohammad
Another small village, Khan Mohammad, dominated by people of backward classes, has secured second place in the district where the child sex ratio is 2,000 girls for 1,000 boys.
They have formed special teams to check ultrasound centres to avoid sex determination," he added.
Top ten villages of Haryana
Name of Village/ Number of girls for 1000 boys
Rainwali (Fatehabad) -- 2750*
Khan Mohammad (Fatehabad) - 2000
Lotni (Kurukshetra) - 1909
Chuharpur (Yamunanagar) - 1818
Ajijpur Kalan (Yamunanagar)-1750
Samlehri (Ambala) - 1444
Muradpur Takena (Rohtak) -1428
Kot (Palwal) -1424
Dhos (Kaithal) - 1400
Baroli (Faridabad) - 1375
Child sex ratio crosses 900 in 2015
The Times of India, Jan 17 2016
1st time in 10 yrs, Haryana child sex ratio crosses 900 Haryana's child sex ratio (0-6 age group) crossed the 900 mark, for the first time in 10 years, in December 2015. This is a major jump since 2011, when census figures revealed the state had the worst sex ratio in the country -834. Sirsa topped the table with 999 girls per 1,000 boys in the state infamous for female feticide. Officials said 12 districts have recorded gender ratio of above 900.Panchkula has registered a sex ratio of 961 followed by Karnal (959), Fatehabad (952), Gurgaon (946), Sonipat (942), Jind (940), Rewari (931), Mewat (923), Bhiwani, Mahendragarh (912) and Hisar (906). The state overall recorded a sex ratio of 903.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar credited the success to the state's multi-pronged strategy under `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' campaign. “We have set a target to achieve a sex ratio above 950 within the next six months for the entire state,“ Khattar said while referring to Jhajjar that recorded the lowest sex ratio.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' programme in Panipat on January 22, 2015.
Haryana health minister Anil Vij said the government had announced an award of Rs 1 lakh for each informer giving leads about illegal sex determination tests and termination of pregnancies. He said the drive helped counter female feticide. “We have awarded 17 people whose information has yielded results,“ he said.
Haryana's skewed sex ratio has made it difficult for its young men to find brides, many of whom have increasingly been brought in from places like Bihar, UP and Nepal. Sustained efforts like `Selfie with daughter' campaign started in Jind's Bibipur village via Whatsapp too has had an impact. Even PM Modi acknowledged it in his radio programme.
2016, 17: were the numbers inflated?
In 2016, Haryana's sex ratio (the number of girls per 1,000 boys) touched 900. In the first quarter of 2017, it galloped to 935. The number for March 2017 was still higher, 950.
To put these numbers in perspective, the national sex ratio for children in the 2011 Census was 919. In Haryana, the number stood at 834.
There is now suspicion that the remarkable surge in sex ratio could be due to dubious numbers.
The state's claim of having made rapid strides in correcting its gender imbalance (India's worst, till recently) faces probing questions after an audit of figures reported by eight of 10 dis tricts in the first quarter of this year found that girl child numbers were misreported. In some cases, they were in flated. In others, newborn girls were registered on priority in the quarter under review while male children were registered in the next quarter to manipulate the final outcome. The audit was started by the `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' campaign team after it got suspicious of some of these “remarkable“ numbers.
The audit, which began in April, found that Panipat, which ranked second in the January-March list with a sex ratio of 1,007 (yes, more girls than boys) had overshot the actual number by 135. The revised number stands at 872.Narnaul, which had come third, had reported the birth of 968 girls. The audit team found the correct number to be 841. Similarly , Jhajjar (949) is now down to 845, Sonipat (948) stands corrected to 870, Kaithal (939) is now 890 and Faridabad (926) has been revisedto 872.
Hisar might have seen a clerical error. Its reported ratio of 933 has been amended to 932. Gurgaon stands out in this list for underreporting, the sex ratio here (891) has increased to 898 after the audit.
Sources said the one of the major reasons for misreporting of figures was district-level staff were instructed to ensure all the girls born were registered immediately . “On priority , staff registered all girls born, which delayed the registration of boys. This reflected in the sex ratio and it appeared there has been a tremendous improvement. But it would have eventually been corrected because the boys too are being registered, although a little late,“ said a senior official of the health department, who did not wish to be named.
Rakesh Gupta, additional principal secretary to the CM and state coordinator for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, said, “ At any given point, there are 45,000 pregnant women in the state on an average. Some officials have shown a tendency to make up data and we are conscious the data should be accurate. By the end of the year, all data will be accurately compiled and we are expecting the overall sex ratio to remain around 935 to 950 this year.“
The districts that reported inflated numbers don't believe the monthly or quarterly figures are important. “These figures should not be given a lot of importance because they fluctuate a lot,“ said R C Bidhan, deputy commissioner, Jhajjar. “We should focus on annual data and that has been improving for the district as well as the state. Two years ago, Jhajjar's sex ratio was 760. It reached 884 last year,“he added.
Vinay Singh, deputy commissioner of Jind that also saw its reported number (889) corrected to 865, said, “Around 98% children born in district are registered along with Aadhar card and it is unlikely there can be a mistake. However, we will check with the civil surgeon and take necessary action if there is a discrepancy .“
The ten districts audited so far are Panipat, Narnaul, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Kaithal, Hisar, Sirsa, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Jind.
2017: Ratio improves
Asit Jolly , Girl Power in Jatland “India Today” 15/5/2017
Amid several tense weeks during which the Jat quota agitation threatened to erupt all over again, there's finally a real reason to rejoice in Haryana - the birth of more girls. For the first time in the five decades the state has existed with the ignominy of the lowest sex ratios in the country, March 2017 historically recorded the birth of 950 girls for every 1,000 boys, the highest ever.
Haryana had seen an appalling average sex ratio at birth (SRB) of just 762 till 2005-2006, which had improved only marginally by the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his flagship 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' scheme from Panipat in 2015.
Given that backdrop, the birth of 17,627 girls against 18,555 boys this March really seemed like a staggering achievement. Believe it or not, two districts-Narnaul and Palwal-had more female births than males. Of the 1,021 babies born in Narnaul, 573 were girls. The news from Palwal was even better-1,003 girls against 824 boys.
The turnaround, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar says, has been achieved through strict enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, alongside sensitisation and awareness initiatives centred on the girl child.
CM Khattar says some 400-odd FIRs have been filed against offenders involved in sex selection and foeticide so far. "More than 80 cases," he says, were registered following inter-state investigations of criminals and clinics in neighbouring Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab.
Khattar's crackdown used decoys to target unscrupulous clinics as well as fake agents offering sex selection drugs. The state health authorities also cracked down on imported (mainly Chinese) sex determination and MTP kits sold by unauthorised practitioners and paramedics. Scores of cases have been registered, and the Haryana government has also succeeded in securing convictions in 10, officials said.
Rakesh Gupta, additional principal secretary in the CM's office, says much of the success is owed to establishing SOPs (standard operating procedures) and guidelines to tackle PCPNDT and MTP cases. This includes mandatory provisions to train police officers, public prosecutors and state health officials.
Jharkhand and Rajasthan
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.
Tamil Nadu
Salem: Tamil Nadu
India Today, June 15, 2015
Kavitha Muralidharan
A major industrial zone, Salem is a Haryana inside Tamil Nadu with its skewed sex ratio. Pinning hopes on astrology for sex-selective abortions makes it stranger still.
A dilemma to choose between an unborn girl or boy that has become a part of life for a large percentage of women in Salem, the second worst district in the highly educated state of Tamil Nadu in terms of skewed sex ratio-954 women per 1,000 men as per the 2011 Census. Driven by a cultural preference for the male child, and anxiety over dowry and inheritance of family property in the case of daughters, there is an irony in this unwanted equality: sex-selective abortion cuts across caste, communities (practised by both the poor and the dominant communities of Gounders and Vanniyars, among others, lest their riches go to another household), and the rural-urban divide.
Although illegal diagnostic centres operate on the sly in state capital Chennai, or Dharmapuri-at 946 women per 1,000 men, the district with the worst sex ratio in Tamil Nadu- what makes Salem unique is the wide- spread use of astrology to identify sex.
In Salem, the astrological 'predictions' lead to many first-trimester abortions. In 2012-13, the district had reported more than 3,000 medically terminated pregnancies within 12 weeks of pregnancy, and more than 300 between 12 and 20 weeks. These are completely above board. What's not known is the number of illegal abortions that are done in the second trimester, or between the fourth and sixth month of pregnancy.
There has been no crackdown because astrology is extremely popular in the state, with many heavyweight politicians relying on it. It is also difficult to bring these 'astrologers' to book merely for making predictions.
Good and bad of clampdown
Shadowing the overall picture in the state, Salem has a markedly skewed child sex ratio of 917 girl children against every 1,000 boys in the 0-6 year age bracket compared to the overall sex ratio of 954, as per the 2011 Census-the respective figures for Tamil Nadu are 943 and 996. What this means is simple, and worrisome: the sex ratio will just get worse as these infants grow up. More so for Salem, Tamil Nadu's fifth most populous and a fast developing district, where the figure of 954 is certain to dip by the time the 917 infant girls grow up.
There's a bright tale even in this otherwise morose climate. According to Census figures, the child sex ratio in Salem is up from 851 in 2001. How did this come about? The answer is both simple and complicated. Until even a decade ago, Salem was notorious for infanticide. When an alarmed state government clamped down, people switched to foeticide, says V. Sumathi, who runs the NGO Green Foundation of India in Omalur, near Salem city.
So the clampdown addressed infanticide but energised foeticide. In 1992, J. Jayalalithaa, the then chief minister, announced the Cradle Baby Scheme. It was meant to tackle infanticide.
As part of the scheme, parents could drop unwanted babies-primarily girls-in cradles provided at government homes instead of killing them. Launched in Salem, the scheme was later extended to other districts. To a large extent, this initiative is believed to have helped the jump in child sex ratio in Salem in the decade to 2011.
A. Devaki, a child protection officer in Salem district, says more than 4,000 babies have been saved across the state under the Cradle Baby Scheme, nearly 3,600 of them girls. "Most of them are in school, many studying medicine and engineering," she says. Not that the scheme does not have critics. "How can the government encourage an initiative that allows people to abandon girl children?" asks Chennai-based activist Sheelu Francis. But Devaki has a defence to that: "Imagine, more than 4,000 children could have been killed but for our cradles."
As for the sex-determination tests done illegally, six centres found doing this were closed in Salem last year, say Health Department officials. "We strictly implement the PNDT Act, and give approval for (licence) renewal only when all conditions are met," says Joint Director of Health Services, Salem, N. Vijayalakshmi. But more than a dozen such centres are estimated to be still operating.
Tied in knots
The sex ratio may be getting healthier, albeit too gradually to make much impact, but the effects of the female infanticide and foeticide practised for at least three decades are showing. As a result, even men from the close-knit Gounder community, with a deep-rooted caste pride, have begun looking for brides outside the community-something that would have been frowned upon till recently. To stem the rot, Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi (KMDK), a caste-based party in western Tamil Nadu, has begun an awareness campaign. But it will take another decade for the efforts to pay off, admits E.R. Eswaran, KMDK general secretary. Devaraj exudes hope that the next generation of Gounder men can get married within the community.
For that, a bigger movement is required to change social mores. To not only amend the way the men think but to make someone such as Kalairani, from Kadayampatti, wipe out the feeling that it is an insult to give birth to a girl child.
