Which reason is not responsible for poor child sex ratio in India ?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 4

The correct answer is Option (4) → Increase in maternal mortality

Option (1) Female infanticide — Responsible (Incorrect). Female infanticide is the killing of girl babies due to religious or cultural beliefs. It is one of the factors held responsible for the decline in the child sex ratio, and such practices have been known in many regions.

Option (2) Dowry system — Responsible (Incorrect). Where parents must make large dowry payments to marry off their daughters, a daughter is seen as a cost to the family. This adds to the preference for sons that lies behind the neglect of girl babies and the selective abortion of girls.

Option (3) Female foeticide — Responsible (Incorrect). Foeticide is the killing of the unborn child. The sonogram, developed to find disorders in the foetus, is misused to identify and selectively abort female foetuses, so girl babies are prevented from being born.

Option (4) Increase in maternal mortality — Not responsible (Correct). The maternal mortality rate counts the women who die in childbirth. It touches adult women, not children of 0-6 years. Besides, maternal mortality rates have been coming down in India, so it is difficult to see how they could explain the worsening of the sex ratio. The steeper fall in the child sex ratio points to the differential treatment of girl babies.

NCERT (2025-26): “2.4 The Declining Sex-ratio in India … Demographers and sociologists have offered several reasons for the decline in the sex ratio in India. The main health factor that affects women differently from men is childbearing. It is relevant to ask if the fall in the sex ratio may be partly due to the increased risk of death in childbirth that only women face. However, maternal mortality is supposed to decline with development, as levels of nutrition, general education and awareness, as well as, the availability of medical and communication facilities improves. Indeed, maternal mortality rates have been coming down in India even though they remain high by international standards. So, it is difficult to see how maternal mortality could have been responsible for the worsening of the sex ratio over time.…”

“…Several factors may be held responsible for the decline in the child sex ratio, including severe neglect of girl babies in infancy, leading to higher death rates; sex-specific abortions that prevent girl babies from being born; and female infanticide (or the killing of girl babies due to religious or cultural beliefs). Each of these reasons point to a serious social problem, and there is some evidence that all of these have been at work in India. Practices of female infanticide have been known to exist in many regions, while increasing importance is being attached to modern medical techniques by which the sex of the baby can be determined in the very early stages of pregnancy. The availability of the sonogram (an x-ray like diagnostic device based on ultra-sound technology), originally developed to identify genetic or other disorders in the foetus, are misused to identify and selectively abort female foetuses.…”