Childless couples in Udaipur prefer baby girls

UDAIPUR: Amid the clouds of concern over declining sex ratio in southern Rajasthan, there's a silver lining.
Childless couples are opting for baby girls over boys for adoption in Udaipur. In the past, the city has been in news for cases of female infanticide. According to figures collected from various sources, of the 74 children adopted by childless couples, 40 were girls.
The difference is minor but sociologists call it an encouraging trend.
Devendra Agrawal of Mahesh Ashram, a home for adoption of abandoned infants, endorsed the trend. "Of the 67 children adopted, 35 were girls and 32 boys," he said.
He said 17 more couples are in the waiting list to adopt baby girls. "Girls are more emotional and compassionate than boys and hence have a stronger bonding with their guardians," he said.
Dr Dharmesh Jain, a member of the child welfare committee, argued that the declining sex ratio is the reason behind greater demand for girls for adoption.
The government adoption agency has further given five girls and two boys in adoption to applicants in the past few months.
Dr Gayatri Tiwari, a family relation expert at college of home science, said "Girls are adaptable and take less time to mingle with the foster family. A son is a son till he gets a wife but daughters are for life," she said.
The worrying fact is that last decade witnessed a sharp decrease of average 23 girls per thousand boys ratio in Udaipur and 32 in Rajsamand with urban female ratio even lesser. Census records depict 924 women in rural belt whereas 865 in the urban area of Udaipur per thousand men. Dungarpur has 861 women in the urban belt and 925 in rural region.
Gender ratio graph Southern Rajasthan 2011
Disttgender ratiourbanrural
Udaipur924865933
Rajsamand903890905
Pratapgarh933898936
Dungarpur922861925
Banswara934937869
Chittorgarh912892916
(gender ratio per thousand men)