One of the few things that my basic school education inculcated in me are growing dangers of deforestation and decreasing sex ratio. My parents too have been reading this in their schooling. And now time has come when we will just not read that climate will change if more trees are not planted but we are experiencing the same in front of us. Irregular monsoon and drought are not uncommon anymore. But the main topic of discussion here is alarming low sex ratios in India which is resulting in unforeseen and extremely dangerous social changes.
Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttarpradesh top the list of state where young men are finding it increasingly difficult to find a bride for them. Sex ratio as low as 75% is long term effect of preference for male-child that is still prevalent in rural India. Coupled with unscrupulous money oriented illegal medical practices and advancement of sonograpgy and other instruments, female foetus is killed more often than before. But the results of these practices are emerging now when marriageable young men do not have sufficient nubile girls. And the consequences are very horrifying prompting me to elaborate here.
Polyandry is a picking-up phenomenon where a man marries a woman but she is forced be wife for all his brothers. Such systematic malpractice is rarely noticed in rural surroundings where wife is still considered property of husband and all is borne in name of family honour. Even more astonishing is the fact that men are even ready to "buy" wives for them from outside their region of shortage. A middleman uses this opportunity to extort boy's family and surprisingly - girl's family has upper hand and demands dowry! Sexual frustration also fuels sex-abuse and violence towards woman, thus enhancing the very problem which was one of the main causes in the first place for preference of male-child. Such utter state of social order is unimaginably horrendous and must be prevented as soon as possible. It is already too late, but then better late than never.