UN report on population grim

Although poverty, illiteracy and gender discrimination are considered to be parts of the same continuum, India continues to defy such straitjacketing, says the United Nation 'State of World Population 2005' report.

The India extract of the report brings to light glaring facts about the country's disappearing girl children, especially from some of the most literate and prosperous states.

In 2001, four states had female to male child ratio of below 800. The situation is grave in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, where the sex ratio has declined from the 1991 figure of between 950-850 to less than 800 females to every 1,000 males.

India's national average, too, has declined from 945 females to every 1,000 males in 1991 to 927 females to every 1,000 males. All over the world, there has been a direct correlation between literacy and poverty levels with gender justice, but in India, this is not so. Despite high literacy and income levels, certain states show a continuing decline in the sex ratio.

According to Ina Singh, assistant representative of the United Nations Population Fund, in India's case, literacy and increased income has only made access to technologies like pre-natal sex determination tests easier, without any significant change in the attitude towards the girl child. "India does not follow the usual correlation of sex ratio with literacy and development," she said.

A recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report had also exposed the myth of India's primary health care programme.