New Delhi: The Indian mindset could be tilting in favour of the girl child. Latest official data on sex ratio at birth reveals that states with traditionally lower figures for girls have registered a rise in number of girls born per thousand boys. This has resulted in a sharp rise in the national average, which shows a marked improvement of female sex ratio at birth from 892 in 2000-01 to 918 in 2008-09.
However, here’s a word of caution. These are initial figures. Officials in the health ministry clarified that these are preliminary results and have only figures from government hospitals.
“As per our calculations, preliminary data shows a remarkable improvement in sex ratio at birth which will reflect in the census of 2011. But these figures are only based on institutional deliveries in government hospitals, while in India deliveries also take place at homes. The actual picture will be clear only by the year-end,” said a senior official in the ministry of health and family welfare.
Incidentally, the majority of abortions are also believed to be taking place in the private sector.
“With institutional deliveries increasing substantially, we can monitor the sex ratio at birth. Each pregnancy is now tracked till the end which has resulted in low infant mortality rates as well,” said the official. He said that sex-selective abortions are mainly done by wealthy Indians who can afford high ultrasound fees and medical expenses in private hospitals.
Sex ratio is defined as number of females per thousand males. The sex composition of the population is affected by the differentials in mortality conditions of males and females, sex-selective migration and sex ratio at birth. The sex ratio in India has generally been adverse to women and has declined over the decades.
As per latest data collected from states under the health management information system by the ministry, the high focus north-east and non-high focus large states exhibited sex ratios at birth of 936 and 924, respectively, which was higher than the national average.
In fact, sex ratio at birth in 15 states was above the national average of 918. The states reporting more females than males at birth were West Bengal, Orissa, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh. In fact, the biggest turnaround was seen in Madhya Pradesh, which reported highest sex ratio at birth — 1,017 during 2008-09 while against 920 in 2000-01.
But Maharashtra, Bihar, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Tripura reported sex ratio at birth below 900.
The state with the lowest sex ratio at birth was Bihar at 797 (870 in 2000-01), followed by Chhattisgarh at 806.