Desired daughters of Haryana; policy intervention needs community support

Pradeep Kumar Panda

Bhubaneswar, June 16: Haryana is struggling towards creating a better atmosphere for women by socially challenging the preference for the male child which remains deeply ingrained in the minds of the local people.

In an attempt to change perceptions at the grass root level, schemes such as ‘Aapki Beti-Hamari Beti’ ensuring life insurance policy for girl children, ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” Asha Protsahan’ and ‘Sukanya Samridhi Khata Yojana’ wherein people are encouraged to invest in their daughter’s education have been started by the Haryana Government.

They have also set up a ‘Haryana Kanya Kosh’ where individuals and organizations can donate for these causes. Though, there are schemes for improving the girl status, Haryana has a mixed bag of hopes and despair for girls. It has taken Haryana twenty long years to bring up the child sex ratio (CSR) in the age group of 0 to 6 years to 900 as per the Civil Registration System, January 2016 though it still remains lower than the generally accepted national norm of 950 girls to 1000 boys.

Nevertheless, it is a significant improvement from the 2011 census, where the child sex ratio was 834 girls to 1000 boys, far worse than the national average.

The data reveal that for the very first time, 12 of the 21 districts in Haryana have reached the CSR of 900 girls per 1,000 boys. Moreover, despite such adverse CSRs, there are families which continue to retain their girls. There are many research studies on children’s adverse sex ratio in Haryana, but research on families which keep their daughters is almost absent. It is desirable to understand the socio-economic underpinnings as to why despite the existing social norms towards daughter aversion, why and how some families have retained their daughters.

Considerable attention has been paid by researchers to different aspects of female deficit in India (Visaria, 1971; Miller, 1981; Sen, 1990; Agnihotri, 2000; Croll, 2000; Bhat, 2002; Kaur, 2004; Patel, 2007).

The 2011 census has generated further debate on the issue and has narrowed down the focus to the changes in the child sex ratio. Change in the sex ratio of child in age group of 0-6 is a better indicator of status of girl child in India.

Sen (1990) highlighted that more than 100 million women are missing. In South Asia, West Asia, and China, the ratio of women to men can be as low as 0.94, or even lower, and it varies widely elsewhere in Asia, in Africa, and in Latin America.

Croll (2000) also explained similar concern in her book Endangered Daughters: Discrimination and Development in Asia. Based on a study of two villages from low-fertility regions of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, one study attempts to understand the factors responsible for the increasing discrimination against girls, even before they are born.

The widespread use of sex-determination tests and abortion facilities has given an opportunity for parents to achieve the desired family size and the desired gender composition of children. There is an intensification of gender bias particularly among the peasant communities.

The rapid fertility decline, not accompanied by changes in the cultural values and gender inequality, has resulted in a deliberate attempt to “get rid of girls”. (Sekher and Hatti, 2010)

Son preference in India is a well-documented phenomenon, and its implications for skewed sex ratios, female feticide and higher child mortality rates for girls have drawn research and policy attention. Less well researched are the underlying determinants of son preference as an ideology and its implications for living girls. Pande (2006) at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) has used data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) to address these important questions. In India, son preference is strong but not universal.

Many mothers want a balance of sons and daughters, and so, at least some girls are wanted. Mothers’ education is the single most significant factor in reducing son preference. Access to media also significantly reduces son preference. Wealth and economic development do not reduce son preference.

Living girls face discrimination but all girls are not equally vulnerable: Girls with older sisters are most likely to suffer in terms of health and nutrition.

Between 2005-12, the sex ratio improved by approximately the same amount it had lost in the previous 20 years. This means that the number of girls killed at birth has declined. According to a new report by the UNFPA, the missing number of girls has come down to 2,90,000 in 2012, much lower than the average of 4,50,000 for the previous 12 years.

According to research, a major reason is the changing mix of the share of the middle class in the population. On a broad-brush basis, a society has four classes absolute poor; not poor but not middle class, which we call the emerging middle class; middle class; and rich.

The middle class is defined according to the poverty line in rich economies; in 2011, it was approximately equal to PPP $12 per person per day. This line separates the poor from the beginning of the middle class in developed societies. (Bhalla and Kaur, 2015)

As per the 2011 Census report, top five district in Child Sex Ratio are Nuh (Mewat) (903), Palwal (862), Sirsa (852), Panchkula (850), and Hisar (849). Similarly bottom five districts in Child Sex Ratio are Jhajjar (774), Mohindergarh (778), Rewari (784), Sonepat (790) and Rohtak (807).

Despite adverse sex ratios, there are many families in Haryana where girl children are not eliminated. The adverse sex ratios have been studied quite vigorously by many scholars, but there is almost no information on families who do not practice gendered discrimination.

Moreover, the community interventions in checking the adverse sex ratios need to be looked at. It is important to know the reasons to see if the same can be replicated at a larger scale so as to prevent the adverse child sex ratios skewed against girls.

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