National Health Survey-5: Has there really been an increase in the number of women compared to men in India?
When the results of the National Family Health Survey-5, the most comprehensive survey on women's and children's health conducted by the Government of India, were released, one thing surprised everyone.
The survey found that there are 1,020 women for every 1,000 men. Earlier, in the 2011 census, there were 943 women for every 1,000 men.
To understand this increase in the proportion of women, it is first necessary to note that this comparison is misleading. The National Family Health Survey is a 'sample survey' and the census is a complete 'count'.
The National Family Health Survey-5 surveyed about 600,000 households, while the census counts billions of people outside the country.
That's what Sangeeta Reggae, convener of Health (CEHAT), an NGO working on health issues in Mumbai, says, and draws attention to another reason.
She says: 'The National Family Health Survey does not take into account migration in its results because when surveys are conducted at home, the number of women may be higher due to the absence of men working in another village or town. Is.'
Does this mean that the survey data is incorrect?
The survey was conducted by the government at the International Institute of Population Sciences. RB Bhagat, a professor of Migration and Urbanization Studies at the institute, believes that census is a more reliable way to find out the sex ratio of men and women.
He said: “There is always the possibility of error in sampling in a sample survey which will not be counted in the population. When the next census comes out, the sex ratio should be better than in 2011, but I don't see that much increase. "
Sanjay Kumar says, "Sample survey is done in a special way and if the sample is selected carefully, it can give accurate results even though it is small."
According to him, to understand the shocking figure of 1020: 1000 ratio, one has to study the results of different states and rural-urban areas.
So why is the proportion of women in the survey higher than that of men?
According to Sangeeta Reggae, one of the reasons is the expected age of women.
According to the 2013-17 estimates of the Census Bureau of India, the life expectancy of women in the country from birth to death is 70.4 years while that of men is 67.8 years.
It has also improved the rate of death during pregnancy and immediately after birth.
Are Women Really More Than Men?
Analysis, Geeta Pandey, New Delhi
The Indian Ministry of Health says that for the first time in the history of India, the male population is more than the female population. A government official also said that this was the result of the government's campaign for women's empowerment.
The media is describing it as a great achievement and calling it a demographic change. One journalist writes that India is now "on the list of developed countries."
But activists and campaigners say the government's claims are incomprehensible and not only "ridiculous, but also impossible."
"For a hundred years, our census has repeatedly shown that there are more men than women," says researcher and activist Sabo George. The last census in 2011 had 940 females for every 1000 males. And the sex ratio of the children was also very alarming as there were only 918 girls for every 1000 boys. How can so much change come in just ten years?
India has long been called the 'A Country of Missing Women'. The phrase was coined by Amrita Sen, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who first used it in 1990. At that time the sex rate was at its lowest level and there were only 927 females for every 1000 males. Amrita Sen put the number of missing women at around 37 million.
The reason for giving preference to sons in India is the ideology in their culture according to which male sons will carry the family name and take care of the parents, while daughters will also have to pay dowry and then after marriage they will go to their in-laws. Will go
This process is called family feticide and has led to dramatic changes in sex rates.
In the medical field, antenatal screening is a method of finding out the sex of a baby before birth.
The Prenatal Screening Tests Act of 1994 outlawed abortion on the basis of sex selection. After the 2002 amendment, the choice of sex before conception was also included. But activists say sex-based abortions are still illegal.
"The number 1020 is not possible," says George. If in thirty or forty years we have eliminated thirty to forty crore girls, then our deficit should be even higher in 2021. And if there is such a huge deficit, how can you say such figures are reliable? '
Demographers say the ideal sex rate should be 952 if girls are not discriminated against, but in the last census it was 929. George says that means there is still a difference of 23 points or two percent between the ideal situation and reality.
"It simply came to our notice then that we were still killing millions of girls. If 26 crore children are born in India every year, then in five years it should be 130 crore. That means we have killed 25 million girls in five years. It's a shame for the country, not a celebration. "
According to the information provided by the Ministry of Health in the Lok Sabha, their survey shows that this rate has come down from 130 maternal deaths per 100,000 children in 2014-16 to 113 in 2016-18. ۔
He says: 'Previously, women were not valued in families, but in recent decades, with the advent of various government schemes focusing on women, the practice of registering their names regularly has increased. That has led to a decline in reporting and they are now included in the count.
Does this mean that gender testing and feticide have decreased?
The National Family Health Survey-5 gives a total sex ratio of 1020: 1000 as well as a 929: 1000 sex ratio at birth.
The sex ratio at birth measures the sex ratio of babies born in the last five years.
According to Professor Bhagat, 'SRB' is a better standard than the total sex ratio for understanding the effects of sex screening and feticide, and since it is still very low, it shows that there is still a lot of work to be done in this direction. The rest
She says: "A lot of research has shown that historically the first child is more likely to be a boy and the boy is more likely to have an abortion. As technology has improved, small families have become more popular. And there has been an increase in the use of contraceptives, which has led to an increase in the proportion of boys in most newborns.
In this web of statistics, keep in mind that in the 2011 census, the sex ratio of children up to the age of six was the lowest ever at 919.
All experts are surprised by the National Family Health Survey's total sex ratio, but they also have high hopes for the future.
AL Sharda, director of Population First, a non-governmental organization working on health and population, called it "too good to be true" and said there was a change in social thinking. ۔
"I am very optimistic about the 2031 census," she said. The generation that is in school now will get married, become parents, and it will make a big difference because of the many schemes and campaigns that talk of equal thinking.