There are striking regional differences. The ratio in the state of Haryana is the lowest in India, although it registered a small increase from 819 from 2001 to 830 in 2011. The best state, overall, is northeastern Mizoram, at 971. The lowest district in the country is Jhajjar, in Haryana, with a ratio of 774. Even in the capital, Delhi, the ratio slipped from 868 to 866.
Portable ultrasound machines and readily available abortion have made the decline in the number of baby girls possible, but its cause is a deep-seated preference for male offspring. A 1994 law banning sex-selective abortions set down stiff penalties, but with a wink and a nod its strict safeguards are easily circumvented.
And while a falling birth rate may give good cheer to supporters of limits on population growth, it makes the sex ratio far worse. When people choose to have only one or two children, they choose boys. "The issue of discrimination is one that is deep rooted in the Indian society," says Ravi Verma, director of the Asia office of the International Center for Research on Women. "With fertility decline, the preference for son is becoming stronger." ~ WSJ.com, March 31
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Mothers in India -- as well as several other Southeast Asian nations -- tend to prefer to give birth to boys rather than girls. Consequently, many of these pregnant mothers in the Far East abort the fetus they are carrying if they know they are expecting a girl.
This practice is especially used in China, where the Chinese government only allows each Chinese family to have just one child, due to China's enormous population of nearly two billion people.
Why do these people prefer to have boys rather than girls? Perhaps the most important reason is that boys are stronger than girls; therefore, boys are usually more productive in working on family farms and in performing most strenuous tasks.
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