State Level Patterns of Sex Ratio in India!
There are large spatial and temporal variations in sex ratio at state level.
The major States that are largely responsible for the decline in the overall sex ratio in India are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu Although the sex ratio in Punjab has been consistently low, it has shown a long term upward trend and has not contributed to the overall deterioration in sex ratio of the country.
In Rajasthan, the sex ratio kept fluctuating in a narrow band and always remained at a low level. Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the States where the sex ratio has remained more or less stagnant. In West Bengal the sex ratio declined sharply from 1901 to 1941 and then made a gradual turnaround on an upward path to reach 934 in 2001.
Goa, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa and Lakshadweep (except in 1911 and 1931) nave invariably shown sex ratio of over one thousand upto 1961, although for different reasons. In spite of the fact that data for 1901, 1931 and 1941 in respect of Pondicherry are not available, this Union Territory is supposed to have sex ratio in favour of female’s upto 1961.
This union territory experienced a steep fall in sex ratio from 1,013 in 1961 to 979 in 1991. But in decade 1991-2001 Pondicherry made remarkable recovery to reach a sex ratio of 1,001. Thus in 2001, Kerala and Pondicherry are the only two areas to record a sex ratio favourable to women.
Sex ratio favourable to females has been shown by Bihar and Meghalaya up-to 1921 and by Tamil Nadu up-to 1951. Kerala is the only state which has shown more females than males throughout the census history of India. In 2001, Kerala with a sex ratio of 1,058 was at the top. This is a demographic trait which is more characteristic of the developed countries.
The other states and union territories with sex ratio higher than the national average in 2001 are Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Goa, Tripura, Lakshadweep, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Assam and West Bengal. Thus 18 states and union territories have sex ratio above the national average.
The remaining 17 states and union territories have sex ratio below the national average. Sex ratio of 950 is considered tolerable in the Indian context. Seven states of Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Sikkim and Haryana have very low sex ratio of 900 or below.
Five union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh and Daman and Diu have critically low sex ratio. None of them has sex ratio exceeding 846. In the states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union territories of Delhi and Chandigarh, extremely low sex ratio prevails due to large scale sex determination and female foeticide.
Chandigarh and Delhi are highly urbanized union territories where people (mostly males) migrate in large numbers in search of livelihood, leaving their families (mostly females) in their native towns and villages.
One conspicuous improvement has been with respect to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where the sex ratio was desperately low at 318 in 1901 and remained below 600 till 1941. This was perhaps due to the repressive policy of the British regime, when freedom fighters from the main land of India were sent as prisoners there most of whom were males. The situation, however, improved after Independence and this Union Territory showed a record sex ratio of 846 in 2001 throughout its census history.