Haryana – lowest child sex ratio in 0-6 yr age group in India

09 May 2013 7 Comments

by kracktivist in Advocacy, Medical Ethics, Medical Technology, PCPNDT Act, Reproductive Rights, sex ratio, sex selection Tags: , , , , , , ,



Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 6
Disinterest of Haryana in the girl child is very pronounced and the Census data, released today, vouches for its ‘notoriety’. The child sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 years has been pegged at 834 girls for 1,000 boys in the state, the lowest in the country despite an increase over the last Census. Haryana is followed by Punjab (846) and Jammu and Kashmir (862) in this category.

Though the sex ratio in the 0 to 6 years category in 2011 has shown an improvement over the 2001 data, going up from 819 to 834, it is a way below compared to that of the country with a sex-ratio of 919 girls for 1,000 boys. In rural areas, it has increased to 835 from 823 and in urban from 808 to 832.

In this category, the sex ratio is lowest in Mahendergarh (775), followed closely by Rewari (782), Gurgaon (787) and Sonepat (798). Mewat with 906 has the highest sex ratio in the state though it fares rather badly on the literacy front and more so when it comes to female literacy.

Haryana Directorate of Census Operation Vinod Babbar said the sex ratio had increased from 861 in the 2001 Census to 879 in 2011. In rural, sex ratio had increased to 882 from 866 and in urban from 847 to 873. The overall sex ratio of India stood at 943.

However, though the sex ratio has gone up, the results are nothing to write home about. Barring Mewat and Fatehabad where the sex ratio is 907 and 902 respectively, it is below 880 in 10 of the 22 districts in the state. The sex ratio is lowest at 854 in Gurgaon, which scores highly when it comes to literacy. Sonepat is a close second at 856 and Jhajjar with 862 is in the third spot.

According to the data, the literacy rate has increased to 75.6 per cent in 2011 from 67.9 of 2001. The female literacy increased to 65.9 per cent from 55.7 per cent. In rural areas, female literacy increased to 60 per cent from 49.3 per cent and in urban area to 76.9 per cent from 71.3 per cent.

Gurgaon scores top position with 84.7 per cent, Mewat has the lowest literacy rate in the state with 54.1 per cent. When it comes to female literacy, the two districts maintain their position, with Gurgaon and Mewat having a literacy rate of 78 and 36.6 per cent respectively.

Babbar said the work participation rate had decreased from 39.6 per cent in 2001 to 35.2 per cent in 2011. In rural, it had decreased from 42.9 per cent in 2001 to 36.4 per cent. However, in urban it had increased to 32.9 per cent from 31.5 per cent. The cultivators had decreased from 36 per cent in 2001 to 27.8 per cent in 2011. As per the 2011 Census, the final population of Haryana is 2,53,51,462 persons consisting of 1,34,94,734 males and 1,18,56,728, registering a decadal growth of 19.9 per cent.

The density of population has increased from 478 persons per sq. km in 2001 to 573 persons per sq. km in 2011. The proportion of urban population has increased to 34.9 per cent from 28.9 per cent of the 2001 census. The urban area of the state is only 4.46 per cent of its total area, he said.

He said the Scheduled Castes population had increased to 51,13,615 from 40,91,110 in 2001.

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