WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

60
P. AROKIASAMY
Table 2 shows evidence of extremely high sex ratios of last two births
on which sonogram/ultrasound or amniocentesis is performed in the
northern states of Haryana (186 boys per 100 girls), Himachal Pradesh
(142), Delhi (147), Uttar Pradesh (163), Rajasthan (130) and even
Orissa (165). Further, the use of these technologies is concentrated
mainly among urban, educated and economically better off women,
where SRB is also found to be extremely high (Table 1). These tests
have been used in more than 35 percent of pregnancies in urban areas,
high standard of living category and those with middle school and
above education (Table 3).
Table 3 Percentage of pregnancies (last two births in 1996-98) on which sonogram
or amniocentesis was performed by household standard of living and
education, NFHS-2 (1998-99)
Place of
residence
Household standard
of living index Educational level
Low
and
medium High
Middle
school and
above
States Urban Rural
< middle
school*
Delhi 44 25 24 52 26 53
Haryana 34 12 7 33 9 32
Himachal P. 41 13 8 31 5 23
Punjab 32 17 10 30 12 32
Bihar 18 4 3 22 3 15
Madhya Pradesh 21 6 5 29 5 29
Rajasthan 24 9 8 27 9 34
Uttar Pradesh 25 8 7 29 6 28
Orissa 8 3 2 18 1 12
Assam 18 4 3 23 3 9
West Bengal 24 3 5 32 3 24
Gujarat 40 14 13 52 12 49
Maharashtra 48 20 23 61 20 50
Andhra P. 40 16 18 49 16 44
Karnataka 41 14 16 49 14 41
Kerala 58 42 37 64 30 50
Tamil Nadu 43 31 31 63 29 46
India 35 13 13 41 11 37
Note: * Illiterate and “less than middle school” are combined.
Source: Computed from NFHS-2data.
The range of above evidences point to the major role of sexselective
abortion in the rising sex ratio at birth in India. However, it is
noted that ‘differential stopping behaviour’ (DSB) also appears to be
part of the reason for the rise in sex ratio at birth. This is illustrated by
the fact that the sex ratio at last birth rose substantially from NFHS-1
to NFHS-2 (in the range of 118-128 boys per 100 girls) in the five