Eco survey turns pink; asks Indians to confront son preference
New Delhi: The pink coloured Economic Survey document tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament today recommended that India must confront the societal metapreference for a son, observing that the adverse sex ratio of females to males has led to 63 million "missing" women.
The colour of this year's survey cover was chosen as a symbol of support for the growing movement to end violence against women, which spans continents.
Laying special emphasis on gender development, the Survey cautioned that on several indicators, notably employment, use of reversible contraception, and son preference, India has some distance to traverse despite the country's economic progress.
The Survey states that just as India has committed to moving up the ranks in Ease of Doing Business indicators, a similar commitment should be endeavoured on the gender front.
The percentage of working women has declined over time from 36 per cent being employed in 2005-06 to 24 per cent of women employed in 2015-16, pointed out the Survey.
It acknowledges that Government's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' and 'Sukanya Samridhi Yojana' schemes, and mandatory maternity leave rules are all steps in the right direction, pointing out that measures such as increasing maternity leave will offer support to women in the workforce.
Given these observations, the states and all stakeholders have an important role to play in increasing opportunities available for women in education and employment, it said.
As per the Survey, nearly 47 per cent of women do not use any contraception, and of those who do, less than a third use female-controlled reversible contraception.
The Survey highlighted another phenomenon of son metapreference which involves parents adopting fertility "stopping rules" having children until the desired number of sons are born.
"This metapreference leads naturally to the notional category of 'unwanted' girls which is estimated at over 21 million," says the Survey.
Consigning these odious categories to history soon should be society's objective, opines the Survey. It also provides an assessment of India's performance on gender outcomes relative to other economies.
However, the Survey noted an improvement in average levels of 12 out of 17 variables in India over time. While 62.3 per cent of women in India were involved in decisions about their own health in 2005-06, the number increased to 74.5 per cent in 2015-16.
The percentage of women who did not experience physical or emotional violence also increased from 63 per cent to 71 per cent, whereas the median age at first childbirth also increased by 1.3 years over ten years.
The Survey noted that the North-Eastern states have been consistently outperforming others on the development parameters related to women, while hinterland states are lagging behind.
However, surprisingly, some southern states such as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu fare worse than expected given their level of development, it said.
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Telangana: Teen rape victims pass Class 10 exam, aspire to join police
Hyderabad (PTI): Demonstrating remarkable grit and determination in the face of severe trauma, two minor rape victims in Telangana have recently passed the Class 10 examination with flying colours, results of which were recently announced in the state. The journey of younger girl (aged 15) is extremely shocking as she was raped by her own father in 2023.
This was discovered when her grandmother took her to a hospital when she complained of stomach pain, where doctors found out that she was pregnant.
To make matters worse, her pregnancy could not be aborted as it was in an advanced stage. She delivered a baby in the ninth month, M Mahender Reddy, a police officer, who dealt with both cases, told PTI recently.
The baby was admitted to an orphanage and the girl continued her education, he added.
Despite these tribulations, she passed the class X standard examination with a 5.6 GPA (grade point average).
The father was handed out a conviction with life imprisonment by the court which also awarded a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the girl, Reddy said.
The other girl (aged 16) was raped by her uncle, Reddy said. She secured an impressive 9.3 GPA in the class X standard exams.
In view of the heinous crime committed by her uncle, the girl's relatives stayed away from the family.
However, they congratulated her after her success in the X standard exam, he said.
Interestingly, both the girls now aspire to become police officers as their fear of police has vanished after they were helped by the Meerpet police station to get justice.
Reddy, who earlier served as SHO of Meerpet police station, said the woman constables and other police personnel handled the case with a humane approach.
Apart from helping the victims, Reddy said the police personnel went beyond the call of duty and tried to instill courage in their minds without confining themselves to the case requirements.
The police personnel also encouraged them to pursue their education, he added.
