INDIA: Solving The Population Puzzle

NEW DELHI (Business Standard), November 13, 2007: Comment By Arvind Kala The Indian government’s talk of “correcting” India’s sex ratio comes from drawing wrong conclusions from the right data. It’s a fact that little boys outnumber little girls in India. We had 6.2 million more boys than girls in the 0-6 age group, according to the 2001 census. At first glance, the statistic is damning. Why are little girls fewer than boys unless they are being killed at birth? The truth is different. Female infanticide happens, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, but little boys outnumber little girls for another reason. More boys are born than girls. This is true of India and of every society on earth. India sees 110 male births for a hundred female births. America sees 105. Most people assume, however, that boys and girls are born in equal number. So, they are outraged by census data showing a preponderance of little boys. The truth is that America also has more young boys than young girls, as do Britain or Japan. Highly literate Kerala provides perfect evidence of more male births. The state has zero female infanticide. Kerala is the only state in India, apart from Pondicherry, where women outnumber men. Kerala had 1,058 females for 1,000 males in the last census count. But in the 0-6 age group, Kerala counted 962 girls for a thousand boys. Obviously because more boys are born. Demographic data deceives unless it’s seen in context. India’s towns and cities also have a preponderance of males. Delhi has eight females for every ten males. The reason is not female infanticide, as the alarmist Renuka Chowdhury, minister for social welfare, is quick to pronounce. Delhi’s skewed sex ratio flows from the city attracting tens of thousands of male migrants who leave their wives in the village in search of a livelihood. This is the reason why males outnumber females in every urban centre. Chandigarh’s male:female ratio is similar to Delhi’s. All cities in less developed countries have more men than women. Ironically, though more boys are born than girls, women outnumber men in all developed societies. America has five million more women than men because women outlive men by six years. The average American woman lives till 80 while the average American male passes away at 74. Anecdotal evidence in India also suggests that women live longer in better-off families. Look around and your grandaunts are around but their husbands are gone. India had many more women centenarians (79,274) than male ones (72,397), according to the 1991 census. Nationally, however, men in India outlive women by one year. Average male and female lifespans in India are 65 and 64, respectively. But this will reverse in the coming decades in line with the rest of the developed world. Unlike developed societies, India had 36 million more males than females, according to the 2001 census. This is undoubtedly due to widespread backwardness which makes parents take better care of sons than daughters. This discrimination is epitomised by widespread female infanticide in Punjab and Haryana. They account for India’s ten districts with the worst female:male ratio among little children. India-wide, we have 927 females for a hundred boys in the 0-6 age group. Punjab and Haryana’s ten worst districts have around 770. The reasons are parents aborting female foetuses after finding out their gender through illegal but widely available sex-determination tests. The second reason is the killing of new-born girls at birth. Business Standard Ltd. Copyright