Families are steadily getting smaller in India but in many homes the missing children are girls. Around seven million girls go missing in India every decade, with the fall in sex ratio corresponding with rising affluence, increasing availability of sex-determination technology and declining family size. The natural sex ratio at birth favours boys, with about 1,020 boys born to 1,000 girls. Yet not only are fewer girls born because of sex-selective abortions but more girls are also dying in the first five years of birth because of neglect. Some states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Haryana have registered a significant improvement in the sex ratio, but many others have shown a sharp decline.

Source: Hindustan Times July 12, 2017 02:12 UTC