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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Urban India shows higher sex ratio decline Economic prosperity fails to halt prejudice against girl child ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Devika Sequeira DH News Service PANAJI, Mar 27
Neither education nor economic advancement have helped cut down
ingrained social and cultural prejudices against the girl child in this country.
In fact recent research has revealed what experts are calling a
"startling and disturbing" trend: that urban India is showing a far higher
sex ratio decline than the poor rural areas.
"Difficult as it might be to believe, given the expectation that progress
and prosperity should change attitudes, statistics prove that prosperous
parts of India are far more intolerant to girl children," says Dr Satish Agnihotri,
IAS, and consultant with UNICEF.
Between 1991 to 2001, the 0 to 6 years female population in India declined by 32 points in urban areas (from 935 to 903) and by 14 points in rural areas (from 948 to 934).
One of the best known sex ratio experts in the country, Dr Agnihotri describes his work -- perhaps not alarmingly enough -- as "locating the epicentre of female deficit in India". His research, conducted by analysing census data, proves things are no better in the Southern part of the country.
In Maharashtra, for instance, Dr Agnihotri has noted sex ratios of less than 890
from Jalgao right down to Kolhapur. "For a progressive state like Maharashtra,
the picture is disturbing," he told this newspaper.
In Karnataka's four northern districts, including Belgaum and Bagalpur, where sex determination clinics proliferate, the sex ratio is far below the rest of the state, he points out. Karnataka's child sex ratio dropped to 949 in 2001 compared to its overall sex ratio of 964 for the same period.
In Kerala, experts have noted that 79,760 female babies and infants were missing in 2001 "as a result of selective abortions" following sex determination tests.
Dr Agnihotri who was here to attend a conference on 'Locating Missing Girls'
in his personal capacity, says 2001 was a watershed in accelerating the process
of gender-discriminated births. So much so, that the Registrar General himself
pointed out the decline by 18 points in India's sex ratio after the 2001 census.
"In the '80s, the high mortality of girls during infancy came through neglect.
Today they are being eliminated before birth, or to put it crudely, in the
prequalification round," he says.
The sharp decline in fertility and the inclination for small families in modern-day India also raised the possibility of enhanced gendre bias, said experts. "The adoption of the small family norm among the educated has meant a son or two. They feel they can do without daughters," said Dr Vibhuti Patel of the Centre for Women's Studies, Mumbai University.
Contrary to expectations that the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques
(Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994 and its 2002 amendment
would eliminate pre-selection tests, ultra-sound clinics offering illegal services
continued to proliferate around India. Many of them advertised aggressively
and openly, said Dr Patel. One ad in particular caught her attention. It said:
"Invest Rs 500 now and save Rs 50,000 on dowry later."
Ultra-sound clinics from the Kolhapur-Satara and Belgaum belt have today
gone mobile, providing services right up to one's doorsteps, according to experts.
Dr Agnihotri links the sharp and very noticeable decline in the sex ratio in Goa's
northernmost taluka, Pernem, to the quick availability of "facilities" from
across the border.
-----------------------
Deccan Herald
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