Part of: GS Prelims and Mains I and II – Indian Society; Social/Welfare issue
In news:
According to the UNFPA’s State of the World Population 2020 report –
One in three girls missing globally due to sex selection, both pre- and post-natal, is from India.
46 million girls of the total 142 million went missing in India.
The number of missing women has more than doubled over the past 50 years.
India has the highest rate of excess female deaths at 13.5 per 1,000 female births or one in nine deaths of females below the age of 5 due to postnatal sex selection. (as per 2014 study)
The main reasons for sex ratio imbalances at birth – due to gender-biased sex selection and excess female mortality due to deliberate neglect of girls because of a culture of son preference.