Marathwada tops chart for skewed sex ratio

THANE: Finding a bride within the Marathwada region could prove to be an uphill task in the near future as the average female population in the eight districts has slipped to 926 for every 1,000 boys, down from 941 girls ten years ago.
The rising gender imbalance is a cause of bigger concern in the rural pockets of Marathwada, where boys outnumber girls in the socially and economically-underdeveloped districts of Beed, Osmanabad, Hingoli and Jalna.
Beed, represented by BJP heavyweight Gopinath Munde and NCP's Vinayak Mete, has seen the highest fall in the sex ratio for children below 6 years from 936 in 2001 to just 912 now for every 1,000 boys.
In the economically-backward and minority-dominated districts of Osmanabad and Hingoli, the girl population has plunged from 932 and 953 respectively in 2001, to just 920 and 935 girls for every 1,000 boys now.
While the skewed sex ratio speaks volumes about the prevalent social prejudices, healthcare and educational facilities for the girl child and the economic backwardness in the region, all these factors have collectively contributed to Marathwada topping the state's chart of regions with highest skewed sex ratio.
Questions are bound to be raised about the success of the much-acclaimed social schemes such as the Integrated Child Development Scheme, National Rural Heath Mission and several other schemes where hundreds of crores of rupees are spent annually to protect the girl child and provide pre-natal and post-natal care.
Curiously enough, the region has dominated the political sphere with leaders like Shankarrao Chavan, Shivajirao Nilangekar, Shivraj Patil, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Dr Padamsinh Patil, Ashok Chavan and Jaydutta Kshrisagar, Pramod Mahajan holding the centre stage in state and national politics.
Going by the region-wise details of the sex ratio figures, released from the provisional census figures last week, Following the footsteps of Marathwada is the north Maharashtra region, comprising the four districts of Nashik, Nandurbar, Dhule and Jalgaon, where the average sex ratio has dived down to 929 now as against 931 for every 1,000 boys in 2001 census. "Contrary to popular perception, the tribal district of Nandurbar has recorded a growth in the female population from 922 in 2001 to 925 in 2011. However, the business hub of Jalgaon district has witnesses the female population slip to 922 now as against 933 for every 1,000 boys in 2001," a census official said.
He added that the Konkan region, comprising the coastal districts of Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, has narrowed the gender gap.
"The male-female ratio has improved in Konkan in the last 10 years," the census official said, "It has gone up to 948 in 2011 from 941 girls per 1,000 boys in 2001. The three districts, Mumbai city, Mumbai suburban and Thane have contributed for the overall improvement in the gender ratio.According to him, Thane's girl population increased to 880 as against 858 in 2001. The two districts of Mumbai have shown an impressive increase in the sex ratio from 838 and 857 respectively now as against 777 and 822 girls for every 1,000 boys a decade earlier.
The Vidarbha region has maintained the same gender ratio in the last 10 years. The average of the 11 districts in the region shows that there are 949 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2011.