Emerging Child Sex Ratio Imbalance in Urban and Rural Odisha: Comparative Study and

Analysis of Spatial Distribution using GIS

Jayanta Ku. Dansana

Lecturer in Geography, Kesinga Mahavidyalaya,
Kesinga, Kalahandi
Email: jdansana@gmail.com
Contact no: 9439248698

“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenges of

reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”

-Kofi Annan

Introduction

Gender inequality has emerged as one of the problematic areas of social science research in the

recent decades. Any attempt to study gender inequality necessitates the understanding of

discrimination on the basis of gender prevalent in our society. Gender discrimination is the

manifestation of socio-economic, socio-cultural and psychological practices. The primary focus

of the paper is to analyze these factors that crucially determine gender relations in our society.

Gender ratio is a salient feature of sustainable development trajectory (Int J Environ Res Public

Health.2015 jan, Ganlin Huan and Saleem Ali). The balance between male and female and their

numbers is a typical character of sustainable society. The balance in the number of males and

females can be studied through Sex Ratio. Sex ratio of future years depends on the child sex ratio

(CSR) of present. The preference for a male child in this booming economic scenario and

reduced birth rate has influenced child sex ratio adversely. These preferences are supported by

technological innovation.
 Child Sex Ratio (0-6) at national level is constantly decreasing. As per census 2001, there are

five state namely Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh has CSR bellow 900. The

irony is that all four states except Himachal Pradesh are economically developed. The worst

scenario came after the release of 2011 census data. 2011 census reveled that nine states have

CSR bellow 900. These are Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana,

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttrakhand. Since then, the study of Child Sex Ratio has

become a challenging area for study and research. The study of Child Sex Ratio in Odisha shows

that there is a decrease of 19 point between 2001 and 2011 census. CSR was 953 in the census

2001 which has fallen to 941 in census 2011 for the state Odisha. A comparative analysis of rural

and urban centers would reveal interesting facts of the problem.

Methodology

For determining the trend of child sex ratio in Odisha census data from 1961 to 2011 was studied

district wise. To study spatial distribution of child sex ratio in urban and rural centers of Odisha

the census data 2001 and 2011 was analyzed district wise and mapped using ArcGIS. Angul,

Dhenkanal and Nayagarh is identified as district where sex ratio for children bellow 6year is less

than 900 at rural and urban centers. Socio-cultural and socio-economic causes are analyzed as

the main causes of the present scenario of imbalanced child sex ratio supported by technological

innovation. Women empowerment in terms of economy and power (political) are discussed as

possible solution.
 Trend of child sex ratio census for undivided Odisha

The study of the above data and the graph both shows that child sex ratio is declining.

Sundargarh is the only district recording an increase. The above data is only for 13 districts of

undivided Odisha. Data for 2001 and 2011 is available for 20 districts of Odisha which is

analyzed bellow. The reason for such decline is discussed under the heading of causes of low

CSR.

District wise Child Sex Ratio for Census 2001 & 2011
Absolute % change Absolute % change
Districts 2001 2011 change 2001- Districts 2001 2011 change 2001-
2001-2011 2011 2001-2011 2011

NAYAGARH 901 851 -50 -5.5 JHARSUGUDA 950 938 -13 -1.3
ANGUL 934 884 -49 -5.3 PHULBANI 973 960 -12 -1.3
DHENKANAL 919 870 -48 -5.3 JAJPUR 932 921 -12 -1.2
DEOGARH 962 917 -45 -4.7 MALKANGIRI 990 979 -10 -1.0
KALAHANDI 990 947 -43 -4.3 KHURDA 920 910 -10 -1.1
SUNDARGARH 974 937 -36 -3.7 BHADRAK 940 931 -9 -1.0
SAMBALPUR 963 931 -33 -3.4 BARAGARH 954 946 -7 -0.8
GANJAM 928 899 -30 -3.2 KEONJHAR 963 957 -6 -0.6
CUTTACK 941 913 -28 -3.0 MAYURBHANJ 954 952 -2 -0.2
RAYAGADA 983 955 -28 -2.8 NUAPADA 970 971 1 0.1
KORAPUT 993 970 -23 -2.3 GAJAPATI 963 964 2 0.2
BOLANGIR 967 951 -17 -1.7 PURI 921 924 3 0.3
NAWARANGPUR 1002 988 -15 -1.5 BALASORE 934 941 6 0.7
SONEPUR 961 947 -15 -1.5 JAGATSINGHPUR 917 929 12 1.3
KENDRAPARA 935 921 -14 -1.5 BOUDH 962 975 12 1.3

The study of census 2001 and 2011 revels that CSR six district register a positive growth. These

are Nuapada, Boudh, Gajapati, Puri, Jagatsingpur and Balasore. Remaining 24 district has

registered negative growth. Among these 24 district 10 district namely Kalahandi, Rayagada,

Ganjam, Anugul, Dhenkanal, Nayagada, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Sundargarh has

registered negative growth of greater than -25. We can conclude from the study of these data that

the overall child sex ratio is steadily declining in Odisha. Any growth in the rate of decline will

adversely impact the society with a simultaneous increase in crime against women and other

forms of inequality.
Spatial distribution of child sex ratio in urban and rural centers of Odisha

Odisha CSR - Rural CSR - Urban

District 2001 2011 2001 2011
Anugul 941.52 898.42 902.88 836.55
Balangir 970.97 960.59 933.03 904.79
Baleshwar 943.47 942.64 945.05 947.08
Bargarh 958.15 958.71 944.20 938.42
Baudh 968.10 979.09 913.91 960.97
Bhadrak 941.06 942.28 956.91 938.11
Cuttack 938.74 918.99 939.85 898.66
Debagarh 955.66 926.51 967.82 929.10
Dhenkanal 926.34 876.78 909.39 883.13
Gajapati 967.38 973.01 920.10 908.50
Ganjam 943.25 907.34 912.89 913.25
Jagatsinghapur 927.62 932.69 907.06 898.70
Jajapur 937.19 925.81 920.20 930.36
Jharsuguda 960.60 960.52 926.94 920.59
Kalahandi 984.55 959.42 980.38 922.18
Kandhamal 973.70 967.15 904.34 898.73
Kendrapara 941.72 928.26 913.91 897.16
Kendujhar 961.63 971.25 961.69 938.90
Khordha 931.31 924.46 916.63 906.43
Koraput 986.77 983.92 960.69 944.47
Malkangiri 982.50 994.91 973.26 946.68
Mayurbhanj 956.32 962.99 949.07 904.93
Nabarangapur 1000.00 999.15 969.07 970.91
Nayagarh 905.42 857.08 861.71 835.11
Nuapada 969.11 982.97 965.92 939.26
Puri 932.17 932.83 920.02 925.69
Rayagada 983.99 966.39 952.39 950.44
Sambalpur 967.29 955.25 934.38 902.81
Subarnapur 967.59 953.19 960.34 933.90
Sundargarh 982.12 966.39 940.23 903.38

The scenario becomes precarious when we look into the spatial distribution of Child Sex Ratio

among urban and rural centers. There are only three districts—namely Nabrangpur, Rayagada,

Boudh among the urban centers of Odisha having CSR above 950. The rest twenty seven
districts have CSR bellow 950. The districts which have CSR bellow 900 are Anugul,

Dhenkanal, Nayagada, Cuttack, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Phubani. Child Sex Ratio among the

rural centers of Odisha is way better than urban centers. There are only three districts namely

Anugul, Dhenkanal, Rayagada having CSR bellow 900, the rest 27 district has CSR above 900.

Among these twenty seven districts all the coastal districts along with Cuttack, Jajpur, Khurdha,

Gajam has child sex ratio in between 900-950. The rest of 17 districts have CSR above 950.

From the study of spatial distribution of child sex ratio of urban and rural centers of Odisha, it

can be clearly seen that there are three districts Anugul, Dhenkanal and Nayagarh with child sex

ratio below 900 in both rural and urban centers. Each district is analyzed at rural and urban

centers which reveals that all the urban centers of these three districts have CSR bellow 950.

CSR in rural centres of Angul, Dhenkanal, and Nayagarh reveles that 5% of village have CSR

bellow 500 which is very critical, 55% has CSR between 500 to 950 whereas only 40% of

villages has CSR above 950.

 Angul, Dhenkanal,
Rural Urban
Nayagarh
Extremely Critical <500 184
500-
Critical 950 2272 27
Not Critical >950 1653

Combined CSR of Rural Angul, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh Combined CSR of Urban Angul, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh

<500 500-950 >950 <500 500-950 >950

5%

40%
100%
55%

After analyzing the trend for sex ratio among children below the age of six we can conclude that

it is declining steadily. CSR remains favorable in rural centers than in urban centers. But there

are districts where CSR remains critical for both rural and urban centers, which needs a detailed

research. Angul being one of the districts most industrially developed, comes under critical CSR

for both rural and urban centres.

Possible Causes:

In our patriarchal social set-up there is a strong preference for the male child over female child.

This preference is age old and is backed by tradition. If we want to root out the male child

preference, we should know the cause behind it. This preference is primarily due to socio-

cultural and economic factors. There are two major reasons behind this preference. First a male

child becomes a permanent asset to their parents economically as well as physically as a male

does not generally move into the in-laws house after marriage. Secondly as per our Indian
tradition the ancestor will only get mokshya through the pinda dan by the male member. It is also

considered that the family clan or blood can only be carry forwarded through a male child. On

the other hand a girl has to move away from her parents after marriage. She becomes a part of in-

laws family where she has to take care of her husband and his parents throughout her life. She

can never be a part of her maternal family economically and physically. Moreover, the marriage

costs a lot to her parents emotionally as well as economically. Now a days the cost of education

is very high in urban areas, and with a small family size the preference for male child in urban

region is stronger than ever in urban region too.

As the literacy has increased people have understood that small family size is better. In the event

of fertility decline the preference for male child becomes strong (Kanakalata Devi, “Causes of

Decline Sex Ratio in Orissa: An Analysis”, Journal of Family Welfare). This is directly related

to the physical and economic support by the male child. This strong preference of male child

again leads to uneven allocation of resources between male and female child. Most of the time

the girl child is neglected leading to a higher infant mortality in case of female. Female infants

continue to experience a higher mortality than male infants (“Maternal and Child Mortality and

Total Fertility Rates Sample Registration System (SRS) Office of Registrar General, India 7th

July 2011). Though biologically female children are stronger than the male, still the female

infant mortality is higher than male which indicates that the female children are neglected as

mostly a male is preferred. These preferences are supported by technological innovation of

identifying the foetus. Though identification of foetus is now banned in India, we cannot

overlook the number of illegal abortions. The survival of the girl child and even the female

foetus is at great risk leading to gender imbalance (IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social

Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 13, Issue 4 (Jul. - Aug. 2013), PP 76-79 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-

ISSN: 2279-0845 )
Consequences:

The consequences are numerous starting from gender discrimination to human trafficking. The

selling of girl children and crime against women increase with the imbalance in sex ratio.

Violence against girls as per National Crime Record Bureau in Odisha during 2015 shows that,

there are 2562 cases reported as crime against children similarly during 2014, there are 2196

cases and during 2013 there are 1123 cases reported as crime against children. Among of these,

during 2013 there are 509, during 2014 there are 753 and during 2015 there are 1052 cases

reported as rape. As per “Children in India 2012 - A Statistical Appraisal” by Social Statistics

Division Central Statistics Office Ministry of statistics and Programme Implementation

Government of India the average charge sheeting rate for all the Crimes against children was

82.5% in 2011, which was the same in 2010 as well. The highest charge sheet rate was observed

in cases under ‘Buying of girls for prostitution’ (100%) followed by ‘Rape’ (97.3%) in

comparison to the prevailing national level charge sheeting rate of 78.8% for the IPC Crimes and

93% for SLL Crimes. The lowest charge sheet rate was found in cases of ‘Foeticide’. The

Conviction rate at national level for the crimes committed against children stood at 34.6%. The

conviction rate for ‘infanticide (other than murder)’ was highest at 46.9% followed by cases

under ‘murder’ (45.5%).

Women now represent 40 percent of the global labour force, 43 percent of the world’s

agricultural labour force, and more than half the world’s university students. Productivity will be

raised if their skills and talents are used more fully. (Declining Sex Ratio in India: Reasons,

Gender Gap and need for Policy Reforms Article shared by Puja Mondal from

YOURARTICLELIBRARY). As the number of female is decreasing there will be more

discrimination towards girls leading to a depressed mind. With a depressed mind one cannot

develop skill which they could have. This deprives the society from getting a skillful labour.

Possible Solutions

From the study we can possibly conclude that the imbalance is chiefly due to the preference for

the male child which has become stronger in this era of small family and decline fertility. This

preference is majorly related to the economic dependency of female. To remove this preference

women have to be economically independent and a permanent asset to their parents. Now a days

women literacy in urban region has increased as well as we can see a lot of women workers in

urban centers. Working class women are economically independent and most of them are

becoming a permanent asset to their parents. Such practice should be wide spread which can only

happen through mutual understanding. But those women who become home-makers suffer

inferiority in terms economy and power. Hence it becomes difficult for home-makers to support

their maternal parents. There should be some policies oriented towards reform regarding the

economic independence of house maker.

To improve child sex ratio (CSR), the state government has launched a new scheme—Biju

Kanya Ratna Yojana that aims to create an environment for survival and development of girl

children. The scheme has been designed in line with the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme of the

Narendra Modi government that includes Nayagarh district of Odisha where the CSR is 855

(according to the 2011 census). Launching the new scheme here, chief minister Naveen Patnaik

said the scheme would be implemented in three districts-- Dhenkanal, Angul and Ganjam where

the sex ratio is 877, 899 and 908 respectively. (The Times of India, Odisha govt launches scheme

to improve child sex ratio, Sujit Kumar Bisoyi Sep 3, 2016).Women empowerment should focus
on economic and political empowerment of women. Economic empowerment of women can be

brought through education and skill development program.

Conclusion

From the study and analysis of data regarding Child sex ratio of Odisha it can be concluded that

CSR in Odisha is declining. This is mainly due to the strong preference of male child over

female child. This preference has become stronger as fertility has declined. Child sex ratio is

very much critical (less than 950) in all urban centres of Odisha except the district of

Nabrangpur, Rayagada and Boudh. CSR in rural centres of Odisha is favorable in most of the

district except Angul, Dhenkanal and Nayagarh. These three district has also low CSR in their

urban center. This demands further research to identify the causes and possible solution

exclusively for these three districts. Government has launches many scheme like Biju Kanya

Ratna Yojana etc, to bring political empowerment government has also provision of women

candidate in alternate panchayat election. Government should focus on empowering women,

home maker specially. Girls’ education and skill development programs should be facilitated

from grass root level.

List of Works Cited

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Chandramouli, C. Rural-Urban Distribution of Population”. Ministry of Home Affairs. New

Delhi: Govt. of India, 2011. Print.

“Children Urge a Girl Child and Adolescent Friendly Environment in Ganjam, Odisha”. Odisha
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“Declining Child Sex Ratio in India: Reasons, Gender Gap and Need for Policy Reforms”. Your

Article Library 18 Aug 2017. Web.

Devi, MS Kanakalata. “Causes of Declining Sex Ratio in Orissa: An Analysis”. The Journal of

Family Welfare 49:1, (2003): 43-49. Print.

Govt. of India. Social Statistics Division, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Children in India: A Statistical Appraisal. New Delhi: MSPI, 2012. Print.

Mohanty, Pragyan. “Sex Ratio Imbalance: Impending Femininity”. IOSR Journal of Humanities

and Social Sciences 13:4, (2003): 76-79. Print.

Rai, Rajesh Kumar, Prashant Kumar Singh and Sulabha Parsuraman. “Declining Child Sex Ratio

of the Child Population in India: A Decomposition Analysis”. XXVII IUSSP International

Conference, Busan, Republic of Korea, Aug 26-31, 2013

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Skewed Child Sex Ratio in Rural Hrayana”. AIJRHASS 14:203, (2014): 239-244. Print.