Successive Governments have failed to address the problem of skewed sex ratio in India. The problem goes unbated even as major portfolios in the Government are controlled by women. The refusal to recognise marital rape as a crime is just the most obvious sign
There is a saying by Mark Twain which reads, “lies, damned lies and statistics”, which means that statistics can be manipulated to bolster any weak argument. However, some statistics, rather pure data, can be illuminating at times. One of those data point is India’s skewed sex ratio. All thanks to technological advances, such as the ultrasound designed to save unborn children, which have actually made matters worse.
According to the 2011 census, India has a sex ratio of around 110 men per 100 women. It is true that in humans, the natural sex ratio is around 105 men per 100 women. On the face of it, one might think, five excess men per 100 women is not a matter of concern. But given India’s billion plus population, this means over 100 million excess of men.
To deal with the skewed sex ration, can be a challenging task for any Government, but given that ultrasound-based sex-selective abortions peaked two-decades ago, before a Government ban, that is still widely flouted, this Government will face a huge challenge.
The problem will only get worse, as it was pointed out in a recent article in The Economist which said that if the sex ratio at birth did not change by 2060-2064, there will be over 190 men for every 100 women who wanted to get married in India. Even if the ratio returned to normal, which even the article’s author accepts is unlikely, there will be 160 men who wish to get married for every 100 women who wish to get hitched. And despite these utterly frightening numbers, sex-selection continues to go unabated across the country.
The rich sometimes fly abroad with a hope to get a ‘heir’ and the poor believe in snake-oil salesmen who promise sons. And while today there has been an increased acceptance of a girl child in almost every strata of the society, this problem has the potential to rip India as under the weight of excess men, and this is not coming from someone with a pronounced feminist opinion. This is just stating the obvious.
If there is one number that displays Indian society’s antipathy towards women this is it. And this is despite the fact that India has produced great political leaders such as Indira Gandhi, and even if one ignores the ruling Congress ‘family’, even the BJP has women stalwarts like Ms Sushma Swaraj and Ms Smriti Irani. But representation in public life does not equal the equality in social sphere. In fact, possibly, with the exception of the media, and even in the media, there are cases of exploitation galore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s exhortations from the ramparts of the Red Fort and the introduction of the ‘beti bachao, beti padhao’ campaign is just a beginning. It will take years to get rid of this antipathy that has creeped deep inside the Indian society.
Union Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs, recently made a statement on the issue of marital rape and said that Indians treated marriage as sacred, and, therefore, argued that marital rape should not be considered as rape.
Even the stringent anti-rape law, passed in the aftermath of the December 2012 gangrape in New Delhi, explicitly states that sexual intercourse between a man and his own wife, as long as the wife is not under 15 years of age, is not rape. So having sex with a minor, between 15 and 18 years of age, is statutory rape, unless the minor is married to you. This is something that should be said is ridiculous.
The fact is that across all the strata of society, men are known to force themselves upon women, and while some have argued that clauses of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, can be applied in such cases, the fact is that marital rape has to be recognised as a problem.
Unfortunately, whenever laws are made for the protection of women, such as the stringent anti-dowry provisions under the Indian Penal Code, there is a fear that such laws can be misused to intimidate and threaten men and their families unfairly. There are bodies that have argued for the removal of laws that are ‘biased’ towards women.
But when society itself is so heavily biased against women, it is difficult to make this case. That said, the courts should come down heavily on those who have been been misusing the laws. It is a fact that in India, there are few or no penal provisions for fining or jailing those who misuse the law. While the BJP Government has taken some steps towards judicial reform as has the Supreme Court, the fact that thousands of judges remain to be appointed in High Courts and lower courts across India coupled with frequent lawyers strikes, overall judicial reform in India remains a pipe dream.
However, while judicial reform will definitely help women in the long run, with quick resolution of cases of violence against women, the fact is that India needs to do much more to redress the skewed sex ratio. More importantly, while no one is asking for the legalisation of the Draupadi situation and polyandry in India, sex-ratio in India will not repair overnight.
How will the Government, cope with a 100 million unmarried men, who want to get marriedIJ Worse still, if the economy stalls in case of a bad monsoon, how will this Government, or any subsequent Government cope with millions of unmarried and unemployed menIJ There is a palpable fear among some that such a high population, particularly in the northern States where the sex-ratio is particularly skewed that violence against women will become even worse as a result.
That is in the realm of speculation, but the violence that India showed towards her women, and her unborn women two decades ago is coming back to haunt India today. India faces many problems, but this might just be one of the worst social problems any country has ever faced (at least in this regard, China and India face the same male-population skew). India’s inherent patriarchy has blossomed into a stinky problem we will soon wish we did not have.