The spring Navratra currently being underway, devout Hindus throughout North India are flocking to goddess shrines in a bid to secure Mahadevi’s grace. This ostentatious show of devotion is at variance with the wretched position accorded to females in an aggressively materialistic and patriarchal milieu, where land, property and family honour have more value than the life of a baby girl. Among well-off farming and land-owning communities in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh, females are reported to be routinely killed by family members either for the sake of family honour or for bringing insufficient dowry. The amendments in Hindu inheritance laws, securing their share in ancestral and father’s self-acquired assets, seem to have failed to give women their due.
Confirming the bias against the girl child, provisional figures for the 2011 nationwide census indicate that though overall sex ratio has risen to 940/1000, against 933/1000 in 2001, the child sex ratio — in the 0-6 age group — has declined from 927 females for every 1000 males in 2001 to 914 females against 1,000 males. Census Commissioner of India C Chandramauli describes the trend as a “matter of grave concern”, with the CSR, vis-à-vis the number of girls, being the lowest since independence. The much touted economic reforms and ensuing prosperity, most evident in the northern states mentioned above and in the national capital, have failed to ensure females’ right to life and dignity. Rather, the high incidence of honour killings, dowry deaths and sexual crimes in these regions suggest that high income is not commensurate with high morality. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit apparently expressed dismay that the latest CSR of 866/1000 shows a decline in the number of female children in the capital, down from 868/1000 in 2001. This occurred despite the financial incentives offered by her Government to have girls. Clearly, changing the feudal mindset, heavily biased against females, is easier said than done in a city that boasts of world class amenities and high standard of living. CSR in Haryana has risen from 819/1000 in 2001 to 830/1000 in 2011 but, along with Punjab — 846/1000 — the State has the dubious distinction of still having among the most skewed sex ratios. Two other prosperous States, Gujarat and Maharashtra, also fare poorly on the gender ratio graph at 886 and 883/1000 in terms of CSR. Among districts, Haryana’s Jhajjar (774 females) and Mahendragarh (778 females) are the worst. Uttar Pradesh (899, down from 916), otherwise on the economic upswing, with glitzy new townships and expressways mushrooming via conversion of farmland to commercial use, and headed by a woman, continues to dislike female progeny.
It is significant that southern States all have a female sex ratio above 900, unlike the richer northern States. Tribal Mizoram (971 females) and Meghalaya (970 females) in the North-East have the highest CSR. Interestingly, high rate of literacy does not necessarily lead to a healthy gender balance. Maharashtra, with a literacy rate of almost 83 per cent, has a skewed CSR. Again, tribal Chhattisgarh, with just 71per cent literacy, has 964 females per 1000 males.
Given here is a relevant excerpt from an article, ‘Skewed sex ratio in Punjab a demographic catastrophe’, by Mr D Singh, Mr A Kumar and Mr K Vij, Department of Forensic Medicine, in Chandigarh’s Government Medical College. The 2001 Census provided data — “The inhabitants of Punjab, who pioneered the green revolution in the last century, are now heading for a devastating economic and social fallout in the near future due to sharply declining (882 in 1991; 874 in 2001) sex ratio. The reasons of ‘son-mania’ are socio-cultural, economic and political ones. Among others, the predominant cause is the agrarian set-up associated with the ownership of land and the social infrastructure sustained by Punjabis that accords a low status to women. Chandigarh, the city beautiful has the dubious distinction of having the lowest sex ratio (773) in whole of the country despite its high literacy rate of 81.76 per cent. The worst affected districts of Punjab are Ludhiana (824), Fatehgarh Sahib (851) and Patiala (864)). With 11.4 per cent increase in literacy rate during the last decade (58.5 per cent in 1991; 69.95 per cent in 2001), the juvenile sex ratio of 793, compared to overall sex ratio of 874 is a cause of concern in one of the most prosperous States of India. Among the Sikhs in Punjab, a further fall in juvenile sex ratio (only 780), clearly indicates that social practices among Sikh masses have grossly diverged from the egalitarian principles, emphasising gender equality, set forth by the Sikh Gurus...
“In the wake of these developments, Akal Takht, the highest seat of political and spiritual power of Sikhs, has raised an alarm. A ‘hukumnama’ or edict has been issued on 18th April 2001, that any Sikh indulging in female foeticide could be excommunicated as the practice was forbidden under ‘Rehat Maryada’ (The Sikh code of religious conduct), issued by Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee(10)...”
Existing penal laws against sex selection and female foeticide have failed to deter offenders. People need to remember that even the orthodox Manusmriti warned that homes cursed by their females would be wiped out, as if by witchcraft.
Confirming the bias against the girl child, provisional figures for the 2011 nationwide census indicate that though overall sex ratio has risen to 940/1000, against 933/1000 in 2001, the child sex ratio — in the 0-6 age group — has declined from 927 females for every 1000 males in 2001 to 914 females against 1,000 males. Census Commissioner of India C Chandramauli describes the trend as a “matter of grave concern”, with the CSR, vis-à-vis the number of girls, being the lowest since independence. The much touted economic reforms and ensuing prosperity, most evident in the northern states mentioned above and in the national capital, have failed to ensure females’ right to life and dignity. Rather, the high incidence of honour killings, dowry deaths and sexual crimes in these regions suggest that high income is not commensurate with high morality. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit apparently expressed dismay that the latest CSR of 866/1000 shows a decline in the number of female children in the capital, down from 868/1000 in 2001. This occurred despite the financial incentives offered by her Government to have girls. Clearly, changing the feudal mindset, heavily biased against females, is easier said than done in a city that boasts of world class amenities and high standard of living. CSR in Haryana has risen from 819/1000 in 2001 to 830/1000 in 2011 but, along with Punjab — 846/1000 — the State has the dubious distinction of still having among the most skewed sex ratios. Two other prosperous States, Gujarat and Maharashtra, also fare poorly on the gender ratio graph at 886 and 883/1000 in terms of CSR. Among districts, Haryana’s Jhajjar (774 females) and Mahendragarh (778 females) are the worst. Uttar Pradesh (899, down from 916), otherwise on the economic upswing, with glitzy new townships and expressways mushrooming via conversion of farmland to commercial use, and headed by a woman, continues to dislike female progeny.
It is significant that southern States all have a female sex ratio above 900, unlike the richer northern States. Tribal Mizoram (971 females) and Meghalaya (970 females) in the North-East have the highest CSR. Interestingly, high rate of literacy does not necessarily lead to a healthy gender balance. Maharashtra, with a literacy rate of almost 83 per cent, has a skewed CSR. Again, tribal Chhattisgarh, with just 71per cent literacy, has 964 females per 1000 males.
Given here is a relevant excerpt from an article, ‘Skewed sex ratio in Punjab a demographic catastrophe’, by Mr D Singh, Mr A Kumar and Mr K Vij, Department of Forensic Medicine, in Chandigarh’s Government Medical College. The 2001 Census provided data — “The inhabitants of Punjab, who pioneered the green revolution in the last century, are now heading for a devastating economic and social fallout in the near future due to sharply declining (882 in 1991; 874 in 2001) sex ratio. The reasons of ‘son-mania’ are socio-cultural, economic and political ones. Among others, the predominant cause is the agrarian set-up associated with the ownership of land and the social infrastructure sustained by Punjabis that accords a low status to women. Chandigarh, the city beautiful has the dubious distinction of having the lowest sex ratio (773) in whole of the country despite its high literacy rate of 81.76 per cent. The worst affected districts of Punjab are Ludhiana (824), Fatehgarh Sahib (851) and Patiala (864)). With 11.4 per cent increase in literacy rate during the last decade (58.5 per cent in 1991; 69.95 per cent in 2001), the juvenile sex ratio of 793, compared to overall sex ratio of 874 is a cause of concern in one of the most prosperous States of India. Among the Sikhs in Punjab, a further fall in juvenile sex ratio (only 780), clearly indicates that social practices among Sikh masses have grossly diverged from the egalitarian principles, emphasising gender equality, set forth by the Sikh Gurus...
“In the wake of these developments, Akal Takht, the highest seat of political and spiritual power of Sikhs, has raised an alarm. A ‘hukumnama’ or edict has been issued on 18th April 2001, that any Sikh indulging in female foeticide could be excommunicated as the practice was forbidden under ‘Rehat Maryada’ (The Sikh code of religious conduct), issued by Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee(10)...”
Existing penal laws against sex selection and female foeticide have failed to deter offenders. People need to remember that even the orthodox Manusmriti warned that homes cursed by their females would be wiped out, as if by witchcraft.
