Marginal rise in child sex ratio in slums

Rema Nagarajan TIG 

    India’s slums have a far better child sex ratio of 922 girls per 1,000 boys than the non-slum urban population, for which the figure is 902. Also, this figure has shown a marginal improvement in the last decade for the slum population from 921 in 2001, but has worsened slightly for the non-slum urban population from 903. 
    Even in terms of the overall sex ratio, India’s slum population has seen a dramatic improvement compared to the rest of the urban population. The slum population sex ratio jumped from 887 women for every 1,000 men in 2001 to 928 in 2011 — a significant improvement compared to the jump in sex ratio for the rest of the urban population sex ratio from 904 in 2001 to 929 in 2011. 
    The available data does not make it clear whether this sudden increase in the sex ratio of the slum population is because of a change in the ground situation or because several new areas have been included under the category of “identified slums”. These are areas with a population of at least 300 people not officially notified or recognised as slums by the state or local governments. In fact, this “identified slum” population is higher than the population of either “recognised slums” or “notified slums” in the country. 
    It is well known that it is the better off communities and populations with access to sex determination technologies and reproductive services who have the worst sex ratios in India. This pattern holds up even within the slum population, with the scheduled tribes having the best sex ratio of 985, followed by the scheduled castes with a sex ratio of 959, way better than the rest of the population with a sex ratio of 918. This reflects the all-India pattern of STs having the best sex ratio followed by the SCs.


Source:::: The Times of India, 03-10-2013, p.13,  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW