MAINS 2014
GS1
10 marks
Why do some of the most prosperous regions of India have an adverse sex ratio for women? Give your arguments.
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Explain why prosperous regions like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi have adverse sex ratios.
Give argumentsAnswer exactly what the question asks.
Demand-wise check
- 1Son preference rooted in patrilineal land inheritance, dowry, old-age security, ritual roles≈30 words
- 2Prosperity enables sex selection: access to ultrasound clinics and ability to pay; small family norm squeezes girls out ('fertility squeeze')≈30 words
- 3Rising dowry with wealth; status consciousness of dominant landowning castes≈30 words
- 4Contrast: poorer South and North-East with better ratios due to kinship patterns and women's roles; response: PCPNDT Act, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (2015 started in Panipat)≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
Data showing paradoxCultural rootsHow prosperity and technology amplifyContrast regionsRemedies
Where marks usually go
- Not addressing the paradox of prosperity directly
- Giving no state-wise figures
Draw this
- India map shading child sex ratio by state (Census 2011)
Value addition
- DataChild sex ratio 2011: Haryana 834, Punjab 846, Delhi 871, against national 918.Census 2011
- ReportEconomic Survey 2017-18 found 'son meta-preference' and estimated about 21 million 'unwanted' girls.Economic Survey 2017-18
- ThinkerAmartya Sen's 'More than 100 million women are missing' (1990).Amartya Sen, 1990
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 15 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Akansh Dhull · AIR 3 · Page 38 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 29 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Akansh Dhull · AIR 3 · Page 13 ↗Same syllabus reference
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