Economic Survey 2018: 'Son preference' finds mention in Survey in pink

The 'meta-preference' for a son in Indian families has led to the loss of 21 million 'unwanted' girls from the population, which involves parents adopting fertility 'stopping rules' where they do not have children until the desired number of sons are born. The finding, part of the Economic Survey, released on Monday comes amidst a global conversation unfolding around gender issues.

To drive the point home, the Survey, which had the #MeToo hashtag right at the beginning of a chapter titled "Gender and Son Meta-Preference: Is Development Itself an Antidote?", was printed in pink for the first time.

As part of its findings, the Survey stated that development has not stopped Indians from their 'son preference' leading to sex selective abortion and a differential survival. This, the findings stated, has led to skewed sex ratios at birth and beyond, leading to estimates of 63 million 'missing' women, in addition to the notional category of 'unwanted' girls which is estimated at over 21 million. "In some sense, once born, the lives of women are improving but society still appears to want fewer of them to be born," the findings stated.

The report also stated that while the Northeastern states have fared better, southern states such as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have fared unexpectedly fared worse.

"On 14 out of 17 indicators relating to agency, attitude, and outcomes, India's score has improved over time. On seven of them, the improvement is such that in the most recent period India's performance is better than or at par with that of other countries, accounting for the level of development," the report stated.