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Saving Girl Child
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What is Sex Ratio ?

• Sex ratio, in India, is defined as the number of
  females per 1000 males in the population.
• Internationally sex ratio is defined as number of
  males per 100 females and the sex ratio at birth
  is 105 boys for every 100 girls.

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World Scenario
Sex Ratio in India is lower among its neighboring
countries.
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Sex Ratio, India and Rajasthan 1901-2001
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Census years Persons (In million) Males (In million) Females (In million)
1901 238 121 117
1951 361 186 176
1961 439 226 213
1971 548 284 264
1981 683 353 330
1991 846 439 407
2001 1027 531 496
Deficit women from 4 million in 1901 to 35 million (3.5 crore) in 2001 Deficit women from 4 million in 1901 to 35 million (3.5 crore) in 2001 Deficit women from 4 million in 1901 to 35 million (3.5 crore) in 2001 Deficit women from 4 million in 1901 to 35 million (3.5 crore) in 2001
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Child Sex Ratio

• Calculated as the number of girls per 1000 boys
  in the 0-6 years age group

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Child Sex Ratio- India
Census Total Rural Urban
1981 962 963 931
1991 945 948 935
2001 927 934 906

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INDIA CHILD SEX RATIO IN AGE GROUP 0-6
2001
1991
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Child Sex Ratio- Rajasthan
Census Total Rural Urban
1981
1991 916 919 909
2001 909 914 886

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Child Sex Ratio of Total, SC, ST and General
populations Selected States/ UT 2001

SL. NO STATE/UT TOTAL POPULATION SC POPULATION ST POPULATION GENERAL POPULATION
1 PUNJAB 798 861 NST 767
2 HARYANA 819 865 NST 807
3 DELHI 868 901 NST 861
4 GUJARAT 883 885 966 865
5 HIMACHAL PRADESH 896 936 955 876
6 UTTARANCHAL 908 934 955 899
7 RAJASTHAN 909 919 950 897
8 MAHARASHTRA 913 936 965 903
9 TAMIL NADU 942 959 945 937
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Sex ratio of 0-6 population by religious
communities and residence, India -
2001
Religious communities Total Rural Urban
All 927 934 906
Hindus 925 932 898
Muslims 950 955 938
Christians 964 965 964
Sikhs 786 788 778
Buddhists 942 945 935
Jains 870 869 870
Others 976 976 967
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Distribution of districts by ranges of Child Sex
Ratio - India 1991 2001
Ranges of Child Sex Ratio (0-6) Census Years Census Years
Ranges of Child Sex Ratio (0-6) 1991 2001
Total 579 579
Less than 800 - 14
800 - 849 1 31
850 - 899 68 71
900 - 949 182 212
950 - 999 307 246
1000 21 5
Excluding J K
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Distribution of districts by ranges of Child Sex
Ratio - Rajasthan 1991 2001
Ranges of Child Sex Ratio (0-6) Census Years Census Years
Ranges of Child Sex Ratio (0-6) 1991 2001
Total 32 32
Less than 800 - -
800 - 849 - -
850 - 899 8 10
900 - 949 19 20
950 - 999 5 2
1000 0 0
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Rajasthan Scenario

• Sex ratio (0-6) in Rajasthan is 909 lower than
  national average 927
• Rural sex ratio is 914 and urban sex ratio is 886
  .
• Less than 900 in Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur,
  Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaipur, Jasialmer,
  Jhunjhunu, Karauli, Sikar,

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Some Case Studies
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Devra village of Jaisalmer district has the
distinction of receiving a baraat (bridegrooms
party) after 110 years in 1997, when Jaswant
Kanwar got married. Woman in the centre is the
mother of Jaswant Kanwar.
Anuradha Dutt, The
Pioneer, October 28, 2001
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Ruhani
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My name is Ruhani Kaur, Im a photojournalist.
Having been awarded the National Foundation for
India fellowship, 2005 and with assistance from
UNFPA, I have traveled to rural landscapes of
elite states of India to explore the various
implications of the declining sex ratio.
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Ruhani
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Bimla, race to have a son began with her first
girl at 16.When I met her, Aashish had just
been born, on her 7th try. 4 of these girls are
alive today while 3 fell victim to sex
selective abortions.
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Ruhani
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Rajwanti got married at the age of 13 and her
reproductive journey began 6 months
later.Today, she is 27 and is pregnant for the
9th time. Even though her youngest daughter is
just 5 ½ months old.She confided in me that the
last of the four ultrasound she had got done,
declared her last child to be a son.And when
she turned out to be yet another daughter, she
named her Ram Bhateri
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Ruhani
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Of those who survive what quality of life do they
get?I went to Dr Bhatias pediatric clinic. He
charges a consultation fee ofRs 150, thus
catering to the middle to higher economic
strata.There I met Sonia, a grade 3
malnourishment case. She is just one of the 85
patients that he saw that day.
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Ruhani
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The mass hysteria to have a son, especially
among the not-so-well-to-do and ironically even
the tightening of PNDT regulations making access
to technology more difficult has lead people to
turn to unscientific alternatives.Dr Gaur, MOB,
refers to himself as an infertility doctor.
However strewn all around his clinics are
pictures of naked babies, all of them boys. He is
known to assure his patients not one but 2
consecutive boysAnother source are the babas.
The one I met it was a retired defence
personnel's who had tried his hand at various
professions, one they all failed, this became his
last most successful foray. Each of them offers a
unique and rather expensive concoction often of
gold ash, peacock feather and safed mufali and is
thus laced with arsenic.It is to be fed to lady
2 ½ - 3 months pregnant once she locks herself in
a storeroom far way from the curse of a femle
whisper or shadow. It is to be from the hands of
a boy or man in the house with milk from a cow
that has given birth to a male calf I attended
one of their bhandaras where mothers come and
leave their sons in the babas sharan to thank
him.
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Ruhani
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Simrans first child had been a son, so she never
complained when she didnt naturally conceive
again. 18 years later, her only son dies in an
accident and she was desperate to have another.
She went to a baba. Like many others she too
didn't undertake an ultrasound as the baba sees
it as a sign of disbelief in his powers. However
when she began to have pians in her 7th month of
pregnancy, doctors insisted on an ultrasound. It
confirmed that she had infact conceived a son
however it ended in a 7 month miscarriage since
he suffered from a fusion deformity. Pediatric
Surgeons say that such deformities are normally a
byproduct of problems in the 2 1/3 to 3 month
pregnancy term(which is the time period when
these baba medicines are to be taken)when the
organs of the foetus are formed. They shared
with me that they feel that this is one of the
factors that has led to a sharp rise in the
number of deformities over the last 5- 10 years.
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Ruhani
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Sumati is a mother to three daughters. Her
husband who is a principal of a school he runs
got her a medicine from a baba to have a son.
The shock that she had given birth to yet
another daughter was so severe that her body
reacted by having fits. On the 7th day after
the delivery when I went to meet her she was
still in deep depression. The baby girl had to be
fed packet milk with cotton by the relatives.
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Ruhani
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Maya is 53 years old. She had the last of her 7
daughters 16 years back. Her menstrual cycle
ended soon after. When I went to meet her they
had a baby boy in the house introduced to me as
Maya son.Villagers told me she hadnt been out
of her house for the last six months, no one had
seen her in a pregnant state and is unable to
breast feed the baby now. Implying that they felt
the boy had been bought. I had heard of such
cases from Dr Bhatia who told me that some
patients would beg him to make their boy alright
saying, He cost me 1 lakh.
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Ruhani
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Chandana is a 20 year old Oriya girl. She was
brought by her neighbours who promised her mother
they would get her settled in Delhi. Once here,
Jind, a 70 year old man bought her with the help
of his neighbour. Jind lives alone with his 60
year old bachelor borther. All of his 6
daughters, the eldest being 50 years old, are
married off. His wife died a while back but his
want for a son didnt. Chandana has been living
with them for the past 4 months and is already 2
months pregnant. Jind took her to get an
ultrasound done but was told to hang on for
another month before the sex of the baby can be
determined. I asked her if shed like to go back
home, she said when my mother only got rid of me
who do I go back to. For now she is being treated
well, good clothes, food, less work since she
could be carrying Jinds son in her womb.
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Ruhani
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Indrani and her husband have been listening to
taunts from relatives saying, Why do you work
so hard, all your property is anyway going to
come to us. With only three daughters, she
doesnt have a son to fight for his right. At
55 , she gave up on all the medicines to have a
son and got Shikha, a 20 year-old-girl from
Tripura for her husband to have a son with.
Its been 5 years and Shikha has had a boy and a
girl. She hasnt been home even once, the reason
she shared was that she is insecure to go without
her son. What if they didnt take her back. Her
staker are high, with only an old couple an their
three daughter, Shikha and her son are likely to
get all the property now.
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Ruhani
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Dayanand is a 40 yr old truck driver. He got 2
oriya girls for his younger brothers and recently
an 18 year old bengali bride, shivering with fear
of him under her red dupatta.He brags that he
can get a woman for anybody who has Rs 5000 to
part with. Many ashram officials have also come
and made similar offers to the herds of bachelors
in these villages, who normally jump at the
chance if they can afford to.
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Ruhani
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Jagdeep professes to be 32 years old but his
white beard suggests otherwise. For a poor man
with no property and no service job, marriage is
wishful thinking. His sister bought this 16 year
old Rajasthani girl for him from Najafgarh.
She is mentally unstable, doesnt remember much
of her past, has a speech problem and cant even
tie her own nara. The desperation to have a
girl any girl has taken over all the age old
factors that use to influence the choice of a
life partner.
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Ruhani
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This baby girl had been abandoned in the bushes
soon after she was delivered. She was lucky
that a couple heard her whimpers and brought to
bed 22 in the emergency ward. Today she lies
there physically unstable awaiting for somebody
to adopt her.
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Ruhani
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Tania was brought to the Ashram by a couple. They
say they found her sitting outside their home. On
leaving her the woman broke into tears and has
ever since made a small donation to the ashram.
Tania refers to her as her bhabhi. She shares
quarters with Aarti, who too was left behind by 2
genteleman she calls her stepfather and mama.
Aarti feels that they left her behind because she
didnt do all the household chores efficiently at
home.
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Ruhani
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When Kamini got pregnant for the seventh time,
after her six daughters, her husband threatened
to throw her out of the house. He felt he had
wasted enough money and time on this girl bearing
wench. She somehow got an ultrasound done still
hanging to hope. But when it was confirmed that
it was to be yet another girl, she was got rid
off. The fruit vendors who had been seeing over
the months took to the hospital when she went
into labour. On giving birth to Sonia, she was
sent to a short-stay home. Ever anxious about
the plight of the six daughters shed had to
leave behind, she was obsessively protective of
Sonia. She would even take her to the bathroom
with her. Just three months after her birth,
Sonia succumbed to infections. Kamini now
shares quarters with other mentally unstable
women. She still believes her Sonia to be alive,
keeping a portion of food for her every meal. Her
husband is heard to have remarried and doesnt
even know where she is.
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Ruhani
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Phoolwanti and Dharam celebrated in great style
on the birth of their 2 sons. At 60 and 70
consequently, they live alone. Their 2 sons in
spite of living in the same village haven't
looked in on them for 20 years now.Abandonment
and elimination runs through most of these
stories. These surviving women are seen as
domestic, sex slaves and fertility machines.
With marriage becoming a transaction and
unmarried men resorting to violent activities to
vent their aggression, what would be the fabric
of such a family unit. The spiraling effect of
these implications could only lead to a
degeneration of society. With no woman to
light the candle of life, humanity seems to be
moving closer towards the end of the tunnel.