Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004 |
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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Karnataka
By Sahana Charan
J.K. Banthia — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
BANGALORE, NOV. 16. Even as the decline in the population growth rate in the country, as revealed by Census 2001, comes as a welcome trend, a re-look into the issue of women's health is essential, says J.K. Banthia, former Registrar-General and Commissioner for Census 2001. During his recent visit to Bangalore, Mr. Banthia told The Hindu that reproductive and child health (RCH) programmes should look beyond family planning measures targeted at women and should be directed to provide healthcare facilities for them even after sterilisation. "The Census report shows that women in India are taking up family planning measures at a much younger age than before (below 27 years). But once they undergo sterilisation, no one cares for them and the secondary problems faced by women in terms of their reproductive health are mostly ignored. The RCH programme should address this issue," he said. This matter was a cause for concern especially in some northern States where urbanisation was very poor and, therefore, the health of women, once they decided not to have any more children, took a back seat, he said. On the other hand, it was heartening to note that literacy in India, especially the female literacy rate, had improved. "Even though a lot is left to be desired in terms of literacy in the country, there has been a remarkable change for the better during the past 10 years. For the first time in the history of the Census, the absolute number of illiterates has decreased, while the proportion of literates has increased. The improved female literacy rate is evidence that there is a big change in the attitude of parents regarding education of girls. This disproves the theory that poor parents do not want to invest in the future of their girl child," Mr. Banthia said. He said it was surprising that with the exception of Kerala, literacy in other southern States had not seen marked progress.
Sex ratio
One of the most disturbing facts that emerged out of this Census was the decline in the sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) over the last decade. Mr. Banthia said it was more alarming to note that the sex ratio was lowest among communities that are known to be more progressive. "Across the country, sex ratio is lowest among the Sikhs and Jains, and low among the Hindus compared with Christians and Muslims; cultural factors such as preference for a son may be a cause for this. If you exclude the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population, and take into account only the general population, you find they are the worst offenders. But the fact is that they are the ones who are laying down the social and cultural norms in the country and everyone follows them," he said.
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