WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE USE OF PRENATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES …
the past because in societies with strong son preference, those who had
sons are more likely to use contraception and stop childbearing.
Data on altitude are available only from NFHS-2. When births
during the 0-14 years before the survey are considered, there is a meek
indication that higher altitudes reduce the chance male birth. This may
be because of lower temperature and higher male foetal mortality at
higher altitudes. It is also possible that people living at higher altitudes
are genetically different from those living in low-lying areas. The information
on consanguinity was collected only in NFHS-1. It shows
no statistically significant relationship with the SRB. But owing to the
limitations of the information on consanguinity collected in NFHS-1, it
served as a poor proxy for the level of inbreeding. In all the regressions,
even after controlling for the foregoing factors, the SRB is significantly
higher in north-western and north-central regions. This could
be because of greater misuse of PNDT in these parts. However, as
these regional differences are also significant (but smaller) in the regressions
that use NFHS-1 data, they may be indicating the presence of
some genetic factors such as levels of circulating gonadotropin, or a
tendency to underreport of female births in northern India.
4. Summary and Conclusion
In recent years the use of prenatal diagnostic techniques (PNDT),
followed by sex-selective abortion has emerged as a powerful determinant
of SRB in India. In this chapter we have analysed the factors
influencing the use of PNDT as well as SRB. We present evidence
from the recently released data on fertility from the 2001 Census as
well as from the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS). The census
fertility data suggest that SRB in India may have increased to 110, and
in some areas, to as high as 130. But the data may have been affected
by underreporting of female births. But even this data show that the
SRB in southern and eastern India is well within the range observed
under normal circumstances, thus discount the possibility of widespread
use of sex-selective abortions in these areas. The census data
also show that though there may be little rural-urban difference in the
SRB, among the educated class the SRB is abnormally high.
The data collected in NFHS-2 (1998-99) show that thirteen percent
of live births were subjected to PNDT, and six percent of female
foetuses may have been aborted after PNDT. But, if possible underreporting
is taken into account, PNDT may have been used in fourteen
percent of the cases, and in seventeen percent of such cases female
foetuses may have been aborted. The use of PNDT is higher in south-
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