Ensuring Daughter Survival in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu is a relatively recent addition to the list of Indian states to experience the phenomenon of 'missing girls'. Nonetheless, the government and NGOs in the state have been active for some time in collecting data to track gender differences in survival and in introducing interventions to prevent daughter elimination. Against this background, this article has two aims. First, it provides a temporal and spatial analysis of patterns of daughter deficits in Tamil Nadu over the period 1996 to 2003. Second, it undertakes an examination of the modus operandi, underlying assumptions, strengths and weaknesses of various interventions and assesses their effect on daughter elimination.

Census 2011 and Child Sex Ratios in Tamil Nadu: A Comment

“…The large increase in the 0-6 sex ratio in the five HT districts is consistent with Narayana's (2008) and Srinivasan and Bedi's (2011) Table 4). and 2011 the increase in the 0-6 sex ratio may be attributed mainly to a decline in gender differences in infant mortality and in geographical terms entirely to the five HT districts.…”

“…In the context of an examination of country-wide patterns in gender differences in infant mortality, Narayana (2008) analyses the case of Tamil Nadu and suggests that policy interventions such as the Cradle Baby Scheme, legal measures and social awareness campaigns targeted at specific districts have played an important role in reducing gender differences in infant mortality, and that Tamil Nadu's experience may have important lessons for policy responses to daughter deficit. Srinivasan and Bedi (2011) extend Narayana's exploratory analysis in several ways. Narayana (2008) relied only on the 1998 round of the Vital Events Survey (VES) and focused on gender differences in infant mortality.…”

“…In India, while governments at the centre and in different states have put in place some responses, little is known about the effect of these policies on daughter deficit. 2 Exceptions are the work by Narayana (2008) and Srinivasan and Bedi (2011). In the context of an examination of country-wide patterns in gender differences in infant mortality, Narayana (2008) analyses the case of Tamil Nadu and suggests that policy interventions such as the Cradle Baby Scheme, legal measures and social awareness campaigns targeted at specific districts have played an important role in reducing gender differences in infant mortality, and that Tamil Nadu's experience may have important lessons for policy responses to daughter deficit.…”

“…To begin with we provide an account of the various interventions implemented in the state mainly between 2001 and 2011. We deal with this rather briefly as these interventions have been discussed at length in Srinivasan and Bedi (2011). In part, sparked by the decline in the 0-6 sex ratio in Tamil Nadu between 1991 and 2001, in early 2001 the state government re-launched several schemes and initiatives designed to prevent daughter elimination.…”

“…* indicates that the estimated female IMR is greater than the expected female IMR at at least the 5% level of significance. The expected female IMR is about 80 percent of male IMR (for details, see Srinivasan and Bedi, 2011). Highlighted text indicates heavily treated districts.…”