Cenus 2011 and Sex Ratios in Maharshtra Dr.

Vibhuti Patel Director, PGSR Professor & Head, Department of Economics, SNDT Womens University, Churchgate, Mumbai-400020. E-mail- vibhuti.np@gmail.com Changing Demography As per Census of 2011, Maharashtra stands second with its 35 districts in terms of population in India. Growth rate of population in Maharashtra is 15.99% where countrys population growth rate is 17.64% and it stands at 21st position in the country. The State ranks 12 th with Literacy rate 82.9% against the national average of 74.0%. Thane is the biggest district with a population of 1, 10, 54,131 and constitutes about 9.84 percent of total population of the state. Growth rate in Thane is 35.94%. Next come Pune and Mumbai (sub-urban) with population 94, 26, 959 (8.4 percent) and 93, 32,481 (8.3 percent) respectively. In 2001, Mumbai (sub-urban) was on the top with 8.9 percent share in the total states population. Sindhudurg is the smallest district with population 8, 48,868 whic Cenus 2011 and Sex Ratios in Maharshtra h is barely 0.8 percent of States population. Next to Sindhudurg, Gadchiroli is the small district with a share of only one percent. Hingoli, Washim and Bhandara with a share of population 1.1 percent each are the other small districts. Decadal growth rate of population has declined. This article tries to examine the implications of decline in birth rate. District wise sex ratio in Maharashtra 2011 census Maharashtra has an overall sex ratio of 925 females per 1000 males. It has increased from 922 to 925 during last decade. Table 1: District Wise Distribution of Population, Sex Ratio, Density and Decadal Growth Rate of Population in Maharashtra as Per 2011 Census Sr. District No. MAHARASHTRA 1 2 3 4 5 Nandurbar Dhule Jalgaon Buldana Akola Persons Males Females Sex Density ratio /sq.km. 922 365 97 276 7 94 285 4 93 359 3 94 268 6 93 321 Growth Rate 15.99 25.50 19.96 14.71 15.93 11.60
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112372972 58361397 54011575 1646177 2048781 4224442 2588039 1818617 834866 811311

1055669 993112 2197835 2026607 1342152 1245887 936226 882391

Sr. No. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

District

Persons

Males 621228 1482845 665925 2388558 604371 662524 542813 1120316 1425593 1732567 609386 946185 1015116 1928156 3164261 5879387 5025165 1711650 1348089 4936362 2348802 1352468 1276262 864674 2233778 1512524 759703 416695 1983274 1435972

Females 575486 1404981 630232 2264613 594439 659807 528982 1073946 1349864 1623999 569587 889797 943367 1767772 2944791 5174744 4307316 1434316 1287305 4490597 2194281 1233494 1179281 795637 2081749 1491398 852969 432173 1890741 1384603

Washim 1196714 Amravati 2887826 Wardha 1296157 Nagpur 4653171 Bhandara 1198810 Gondiya 1322331 Gadchiroli 1071795 Chandrapur 2194262 Yavatmal 2775457 Nanded 3356566 Hingoli 1178973 Parbhani 1835982 Jalna 1958483 Aurangabad 3695928 Nashik 6109052 Thane 11054131 Mumbai (Suburban) 9332481 Mumbai 3145966 Raigarh 2635394 Pune 9426959 Ahmadnagar 4543083 Bid 2585962 Latur 2455543 Osmanabad 1660311 Solapur 4315527 Satara 3003922 Ratnagiri 1612672 Sindhudurg 848868 Kolhapur 3874015 Sangli 2820575

Sex Density ratio /sq.km. 8 939 244 938 237 935 205 932 470 981 293 1005 253 976 74 948 192 942 204 942 319 953 244 958 295 951 255 925 365 927 393 858 1157 822 20925 777 20038 976 368 919 603 940 266 936 242 935 343 932 219 935 290 995 287 1136 196 1079 163 949 504 957 329

Growth Rate 17.23 10.77 4.80 14.39 5.52 10.13 10.46 5.95 12.90 16.70 19.43 20.18 21.84 27.33 22.33 35.94 8.01 -5.75 19.36 30.34 12.43 19.65 18.04 11.69 12.10 6.94 -4.96 -2.30 9.96 9.18

Top five districts in Maharashtra according to sex ratio 2011 census are Ratnagiri (stands top in Maharashtra with 1123 female per 1000 males), Sindhudurg (is at number two with 1037 females per 1000 males), Gondiya (is at number there with 996 females per 1000 males), Satara (is at 4th place with 986 females per 1000 males) and Bhandara (stands at number five with 984 females per 1000 males). Bottom three districts in Maharashtra according to sex ratio 2011 census are Mumbai with the lowest sex ratio of only 777 females per 1000 males, Mumbai suburban that also has very low sex ratio of 822 females per 1000 males and Thane which has 858 females per 1000 males in Maharashtra
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Child Sex Ratio in Maharashtra as Per 2011 Census The child sex ratio, which indicates the number of girls born for every 1,000 boys, has fallen from 916 in rural Maharashtra to 880-a drop of 36 points. In contrast, the child sex ratio in urban Maharashtra has dipped from 908 to 888 in the last decade. Rural Maharashtra seems to love the girl child even less than the state's urban areas. In the most shocking blow to the girl child so far, the newly released provisional Census 2011 data shows that fewer girls are born in rural areas than in urban. The child sex ratio of both urban and rural areas fell over the last decade. "While urban areas have fared better than rural areas, the child sex ratio has dropped in both. The ratio has fallen from 916 to 880 in rural areas in the last decade and from 908 to 888 in urban areas." The overall sex ratio has increased in Maharashtra a little, the child sex ratio (0-6 years) in Maharashtra has decreased at a rate of 3.29% during the last decade. Maharashtra has only 883 girls per 1000 boys (0-6 years). In Maharashtra, 23 of 33 districts have lower child sex ratios than the national average. There are only 4 out of 35 districts in Maharashtra where the child sex ratio is above 940. Only Chandrapur is among these top four districts that has a positive child sex ratio. Table 2: Top Four Districts in Maharashtra According to Child Sex Ratio (0-6 age group) District Ratnagiri Gondiya Chanrapur Gadchiroli 2001 952 958 939 966 2011 940 944 945 956 Change -1.26 -1.46 0.64 -1.04

Top four districts in Maharashtra where child sex ratio is above 940 girls per 1000 boys are Gadchiroli that has a ratio of 956 girls per 100 boys. In 2001 it was 966, Chandrapur that has a ratio of 945 girls per 100 boys. In 2001 it was 939, Gondiya that has a ratio of 944 girls per 100 boys. In 2001 it was 958 and Ratnagiri that has a ratio of 940 girls per 100 boys. In 2001 it was 952. Bottom five districts in Maharashtra where child sex ratio is below 850 are Bid with only 801 girls per 1000 boys, in 2001 it was 894; Ahmadnagar that has 839 girls per 1000 boys, in 2001 it was 884; Jalgaon that has 829 girls per 1000 boys, in 2001 it was 880; Buldana that has 842 girls per 1000 boys, in 2001 it was 908 and Kolhapur that has 845 girls per 1000 boys, in 2001 it was 839. Table: 3 Bottom Four Districts in Maharashtra with respect to Child Sex Ratio District Bid Jalgaon 2001 894 880 2011 801 829 Change -10.40 -5.80
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District Ahmadnagar Buldana

2001 884 908

2011 839 842

Change -5.09 -7.27

Child Sex Ratios in the Urban Centres For 2011, the child sex ratio stood at 874 girls for each 1,000 boys for the Mumbai City district census. That is down significantly from 922 according to the 2001 census. The city district extends from Colaba in the south to Mahim and Sion in the north. In the Mumbai Suburban district, which runs from Bandra to Borivali, Kurla to Mulund, and Kurla to Trombay, the 2011 ratio stood at 910, down from 923 a decade ago. Accessibility and affordability are two key things in sex selection and Mumbai has both. The increase in sex selection through ultrasound has been manifold. Recent raids of dozens of diagnostics centers in several suburbs of Mumbai have exposed several clinics for flouting rules, including not placing a board outside the clinic clearly stating that sex determination is illegal under the law; failing to register machines with state supervisory authorities as required under the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act; and not maintaining records of the diagnoses done on women. Several doctors were caught red handed charging 30000 to 1 lakh rupees from the decoy pregnant women. The female to male child sex ratio in Pune district has come down to alarming levels. For every 1000 boys up to six years of age, there are only 895 girls, according to statistics released by the State Health Systems Resource Center for the year 2009. This is a significant drop from 902 girls per 1000 boys, in the same 0 to-6 yrs age bracket, in the year 2001. With this, Pune district has maintained the notorious distinction of having a child sex ratio below the average sex ratio for the rest of the State, over the last two decades. Not that the State has a record to be proud of - in 2009, Maharashtras child sex ratio stood at a dismal 908 females per 1,000 males. Barring Pune city, Velhe and Purandar talukas, the sex ratio in all the other talukas in Pune district has seen a decline over the last decade. Shirur taluka holds the dubious distinction of the lowest child sex ratio (846) in district, while Velhe recorded the highest among all talukas (953) in 2009. Missing Girls in Rural Maharashtra According to statistics released by the State Health Systems Resource Center, Thane district had the highest child sex ratio (962) in 2009, while Beed district in Marathwada region of the state was the most skewed (848). A total of 14 districts in Maharashtra, including Raigad, Nashik, Ratnagiri and Nandurbar, had recorded child sex ration in the range of 900 to 950, while Solapur, Satara, Kolhapur and Jalgaon were among the 13 districts with a ratio between 850 and 900. According to the 2011 census, Beed was the worst affected with a child sex ratio (CSR) of 801 as against 894 in the 2001 census. Jalna's CSR is 847, a fall from 903 in 2001, whereas Aurangabad's is 848, a fall from 890 in the past decade. Similar to these three districts, 30 more districts out of the 35 in the State had registered a decline since the 2001 census of much more than the national average of 1.4 per cent.
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A rise in sex determination tests and sex-selective abortions had been the cause of sharp decline in sex ratio. Mr. Suresh Shetty, Hon. Minister, Health of GoM said. A crackdown on all malpractice is the key to improve the situation. Sonography machine operators will be under a strict scanner, he added. The campaign will be a joint effort of the police, health, and administrative officials. We will chalk out a line of action. He also organized a joint meeting of the officials concerned in Marathwada in June, 2011 to devise a plan of action for the eight districts of Beed, Jalna, Aurangabad, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Hingoli, and Parbhani jointly constituted the Marathwada region. Recent raids of diagnostic centers have revealed large scale sex determination tests leading to selective abortion of female fetuses in Marathawad, Mumbai and Pune. Although Beed is known for the illegal sex-selective abortions, people from throughout the State went there. People from western Maharashtra go to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Those who can afford it go abroad. There is a need for widespread vigilance and awareness. PNDT Act, 1988, GoM: Maharashtra was the first state to enact the Pre Natal Diagnostics Techniques Act in 1988 to stop discriminatory abortions of female fetuses. In March 1987, the government of Maharashtra appointed an expert committee to propose comprehensive legal provisions to restrict sex determination tests such as amniocentesis, chorion-villi-biopsy, foetoscopy, sonography for identifying genetic conditions. The committee was appointed in response to a private bill introduced in the Assembly by a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) who was persuaded by the Forum. In fact the Forum approached several MLAs and Members of the Parliament to put forward such a bill. In April 1988, the government of Maharashtra introduced a bill to provide for the regulation of the use of Medical or Scientific techniques of pre-natal diagnosis solely for the purpose of detecting genetic or metabolic disorders or chromosomal abnormalities or certain congenital anomalies or sex linked conditions and for the prevention of the misuse of prenatal sex determination leading to selective abortion of female foetuses and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto (Legislative Council Bill No.VIII of 1988). In June 1988, the Bill was unanimously passed in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and became an Act. The Acts preview was limited only to Sex Determination tests; it did not say anything about the Sex Preselection techniques. It admitted that medical technology could be misused by doctors and banning of SD tests had taken away the respectability of the Act of SD tests. Not only this, but now in the eyes of law both the clients and the practitioners of the SD tests are culprits. Any advertisement regarding the facilities of the SD tests is declared illegal by this Act. But the Act had many loopholes. Undesired Daughters has been the paradox of Modern India. Historical evidences reveal that India has always been a son preferring society. Yet the sex ratios were never as bad as they are today when we have a number of easy technical options to determine the sex of the baby before and after conception. The easy accessibility and availability of reproductive technologies are threatening the very existence of the girls and a stricter monitoring and regulation of Ultra sound clinics is required. The following data from census underscores the gravity of the problem. Since
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this responsibility is vested with the Health Department alone, it should implement the PCPNDT Act in its true spirit. While the NGOs may work on the social, cultural issues the responsibility of monitoring and regulating is totally vested with the government and it is time that the authorities take this responsibility with due seriousness. The Health Department of Maharashtra needs to o Reconstitute the State Supervisory Board as well as the Advisory Boards as per the Law with representation of committed social activists and civil society representatives o Conduct Social Audit of documents received from Sonography clinics between 2005-2010 o Make available online, all data of Ultra Sonography (USG) machines sold by companies o Institute a special fast track court for PCPNDT cases at State level o Appoint a special prosecutor at the State level o Initiate legal action against clinics for any violation of PCPNDT Act Government of Maharashtra has initiated stringent action against the erring clinics and for implement the PCPNDT Act, 2002 in letter and spirit. Affirmative action of the state for not only social protection but also incentivising the girls has become need of an hour. Existing schemes for promoting birth of girls must be critically examined and reformulated in such a way that they are universal and are not linked to any kind of stipulations. There is a need for an Action Plan aimed at creating more educational opportunities for girls / women at middle, secondary and higher education levels. Under Adarsh Gaon Yogana of Maharashtra State, felicitate villages who have been able to have a balanced child sex ratio. We need to continue legacy of 19th century social reform movement in Maharashtra that fought against evils of female infanticide, child marriages, plight of widows and strived for better quality of life for women, education and enhanced status of women in society. We need a campaign to change the mindset of people and tell them that Eliminate Inequality, not Women, Destroy Dowry & Dehumanisation, not Daughters, Say No to Sex-determination, Say Yes to Empowerment of Women, Say No to Sex Discrimination, Say Yes to Gender Justice, Daughters are not for slaughter, Stop Femicide, Promote Equity. Girls are the equals of boys, all they need is opportunity, Sex Selection is a Crime against Humanity., Respect bodily integrity of women., Women are not son-producing machines.