Preference for sons and the neglect of the girl child resulting in high mortality at a younger age is leading to a widening decline in the girl child ratio at the national and state levels.
According to the latest figures of Census 2001, while the level of females per 1,000 male population or sex ratio has improved at the national level from 927 in 1991 to 933 in 2001, that of child sex ratio has declined, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi said Wednesday.
In the case of states like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, however, there has been a decline in the sex ratio of the female population, she said.
"The situation is worse in case of the child sex ratio in the age group 0-6 where it has declined both at the national level and in these states (Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh)," Lakshmi said.
"Preference for sons, neglect of the girl child resulting in higher mortality at a younger age, female infanticide and male bias in enumeration of population are some of the reasons commonly put forward to explain the consistently low levels of the child sex ratio."
The child sex ratio has dropped from 945 girls for every 1,000 boys in 1991 to 927 per 1,000 boys in 2001.
In Punjab, the child sex ratio is 798 girls for every 1,000 boys, while in other states like Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and even in Delhi it is considerably below the national average.
Though the government has made legislation against misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques more stringent and advised state governments to create more awareness, there has not been enough impact.
"It is recognised that mere legislation is not enough to deal with this problem that has its roots in social behaviour and prejudice," Lakshmi said.
As part of efforts to create more awareness among people, the government has recently launched "Save the Girl Child Campaign" to lessen the preference for sons by highlighting the achievements of young girls.
--Indo-Asian News Service