Mumbai's sex ratio rises to 936 girls for 1,000 boys

MUMBAI: At a time when Maharashtra's sharp decline in sex ratio at birth has come under heavy criticism, the city's ratio has shown a healthy jump of three points in 2016. Mumbai's sex ratio at birth, which shows the number of girls per 1,000 boys, is now 936, an all-time high, the civic body said.
The city has been witnessing a steady increase in the ratio of female births over the past few years.In 2015, the ratio was 933 which rose from 931 in 2014 and 930 in 2013.When compared to the situation five years ago, there is a rise of heartening 14 points.The civic body is certain that the numbers are an outcome of the stringent implementation of rules that prohibit prenatal sex selection.
The news is particularly important with the state's overall ratio registering an alarming decline of eight points at 899 in 2016 from 907 in 2015. Among the 35 dis tricts, Mumbai bagged the sixth position in terms of having a healthy sex ratio.
“It can safely be said that Mumbai is out of a crisis situation. The numbers are healthy. But there is scope for further improvement,“ said demographer P Arokiasamy , professor at the Internatio nal Institute for Population Sciences. An ideal ratio would be more than 9511,000, he said. “Traditionally , we have seen that urban and educated areas fare worse than the poorer ones,“ he said.
This is perhaps underlined by the fact that Bhandara, where only a fourth of the population lives in urban areas, has the near perfect ratio of 989. It is followed by Amravati, Nagpur and Parbhani.Arokiasamy , however, said that a ward-wise analysis could provide a better picture of the city . “In the previous years, we have seen affluent pockets doing badly ,“ he said. BMC's executive health officer Dr Padmaja Keskar said that the rising numbers are a result of the corporation's sustained efforts to deter sex selection. Another officer added that the crackdowns on medical fraternity as well as quacks has had a great deterrent effect.
Dr Jignesh Thakker of the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association said it was a welcome news that speaks of change in mindset. “ All these years, doctors were unnecessarily blamed for a decline in the sex ratio when the focus should have been on educating people. Of course displaying boards and counselling relatives have had an impact,“ he said. Thakker added that the state has to stop looking at the ultrasound technology as a tool to only detect foetus. “The government has to address the deeper social evils and provide incentives to parents with girl children,“ he added.
Varsha Deshpande of NGO Lek Ladki Abhiyan, however, said the numbers need to be studied. “With the best of technology , Mumbai attracts people from all over India. So these numbers alone cannot be a fair parameter. We will be convinced if Mumbai consistently maintains the ratio of 951for three years,“ she said.