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Foeticide slur on posh Delhi KALPANA JAIN TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2002 11:04:04 PM ] NEW DELHI: After Punjab and Haryana, Delhi too provides statistical proof that the wealthier the area, the greater the discrimination against the girl child. The latest data to emerge from the 2001 census reveal that the areas in Delhi with the largest number of 'missing' girls - girls who are never born because of female foeticide - are also some of the most posh ones. This is reflected in abysmally low child sex ratios. The sex ratio for any age group is defined as the number of females per 1000 males in that cohort. A sub-district break-up of child sex ratio data in Delhi done by the census authorities shows areas such as Hauz Khas, Defence Colony, Model Town and Punjabi Bagh as the worst offenders. In some of these areas, there are less than 850 girls per 1000 boys aged six and below. Other areas which do poorly are Delhi's traditional Jat villages like Najafgarh and Narela. A normal sex ratio always shows more women than men but only 10 districts in the country qualify as normal. South district in Sikkim has the highest sex ratio of 1036, while Sonipat in Haryana has the lowest at 783. Experts are clear that the large number of 'missing' girls, evident in the child sex ratio in Delhi, is indicative of rampant female foeticide in these areas. Even if some adjustments are to be made in some areas - such as the industrial belt or cantonment areas - for migration, the large gap in sex ratios cannot be explained. As it is, the 2001 census showed that child sex ratio in Delhi declined steeply - from 945 in 1991 to 865. Demographer A R Nanda explains that in Delhi one needs to take out factors such as migration stream and people coming in only with the male child. Undernumeration of girls can be another factor as parents simply forget to count their girls when the census man visits them. ''But even then, foeticide would be a factor for the missing girls, particularly in prosperous areas. In these places, people are trying to limit their family size to two or even one,'' he says. So Hauz Khas shows a child sex ratio as low as 841 and Vasant Vihar 865, with Defence Colony only slightly better at 883. Only Daryaganj, Sadar Bazar and Kotwali areas have a child sex ratio that is above 900. Daryaganj, with a ratio of 936, is the best in Delhi. ''One is not surprised,'' says Mira Shiva at the Voluntary Health Association of India. ''It is the educated who are making the maximum use of (sex determination) technology.'' The fact that educated mothers are willing to abort the girl child only reflects the social conditioning of women. ''Till the mother of a baby girl is respected, this practice will not change,'' she adds. The decline of child sex ratios is causing serious concern. Census 2001 showed a decline of 18 percentage points from 945 to 927 during 1991 to 2001. The decline was much higher in the economically developed states of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Chandigarh.
