Select the true statement.

Patriarchal customs have played an important role in the decline of sex ratio in India.

The correct answer is Option 4: Patriarchal customs have played an important role in the decline of sex ratio in India.

Option 1: A high birth rate and the high death rate are good for society. This is incorrect because high birth and death rates indicate low development and poor health conditions.

Option 2: The high infant mortality rate is a symbol of progress.This is incorrect as high infant mortality reflects poor healthcare and living standards.

Option 3: The rise in infant mortality rate is more biological than the lack of health care facilities. This is incorrect because infant mortality is mainly linked to lack of healthcare, nutrition, and socio-economic factors.

Option 4: Patriarchal customs have played an important role in the decline of sex ratio in India. This is correct. Practices such as dowry are one of the important reasons for families to choose a male child, such attitudes have an important role in declining sex ratio.

NCERT: "The sex ratio refers to the number of females per 1000 males in a given area at a specified time period. Historically, all over the world it has been found that there are slightly more females than males in most countries. This is despite the fact that, slightly more male babies are born than female ones; nature seems to produce roughly 943 to 952 female babies for every 1000 males. If despite this fact the sex ratio is somewhat in favour of females, this seems to be due to two reasons. First, girl babies appear to have an advantage over boy babies in terms of resistance to disease in infancy. At the other end of the life cycle, women have tended to outlive men in most societies, so that there are more older women than men. The combination of these two factors leads to a sex ratio of roughly 1050 females per 1000 males in most contexts. However, it has been found that the sex ratio has been declining in some countries like China, South Korea and specially India. This phenomenon has been linked to prevailing social norms that tend to value males much more than females, which leads to ‘son preference’ and the relative neglect of girl babies. "