Rapid fall in child sex ratio among Scheduled Castes

LUCKNOW: The child sex ratio (CSR) has fallen considerably among the Scheduled Castes in UP and many other states, a new report on the census data has revealed.

The CSR or number of girls per 1000 boys between the age of 0 and 6 years, which is an indicator of sex selective abortions, suggests Uttar Pradesh along with 11 other states like Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, has the lowest CSR among the SC community.

“This is a clear indication that the sex selection and sex selective abortion have penetrated the community,” said Dr Neelam Singh, head of Vatsalya-an NGO working on female foeticide.

For instance, the CSR in Sonbhadra district of eastern Uttar Pradesh was 986 in 2001. However, in 2011 this came down to 932. Similarly, Ballia registered a fall of 39 between the two censuses.

In 2001, the CSR was 953 but it came down to 914 in 2011.

Among the districts that registered considerable fall in the CSR are Bijnor, Kaushambi, Siddharthanagar, Meerut, Bahraich (all above 30).

“Particularly the districts in the western part of the state now have CSR below 900 and this is alarming as violation of PC PNDT Act must be rampant here,” said Dr Singh.

The districts she mentioned included Meerut, Ghaziabad, GB Nagar, Bagpat, Bulandshahr, Mathura, Agra, Bijnor, Jhansi, Etawah, Firozabad and Mahoba.

Dr Singh said there was need to check use of ultrasound machines installed in remote places.

Regular monitoring of the ultrasound centres could help curb the sex selective abortions, she said.