INTRODUCTION:

The statistics about the sex ratio is a powerful indicator for grasping the scale of discrimination and denial of women’s human rights and the extent to which so many girls are missing because of the deep rooted son preference in the society. Limiting family size, easy availability and abuse of medical technologies for prenatal sex detection have worked against the female child. Today the girl child is not even safe at homes, which is rendered as the safest place for everyone just because of the ever increasing son preference. In fact the girl child and young woman remain victims of social bias and the home is identified as the originating point of their subjugation and exploitation.

Nasir and Rashid (2013)¹ argued that the girl child in India is treated right from her birth as an additional burden and an extra mouth to feed, a liability and another man’s property. The birth of a son is regarded as essential in Hinduism and many prayers and lavish offerings are made in temples in the hope of having a male child.

The rejection of the unwanted girl begins even before her birth, prenatal sex determination tests followed by quick abortions eliminate thousands of female fetuses before they can become daughters. The girls who manage to survive till birth find that the dice is heavily loaded against them that denies equal access to food, health, education, employment and respect, rather harassment and various forms of violence becomes the reality of their daily life. Due to the higher social value attributed to the son, social norms and practices are highly inclined towards protecting and maintaining the status quo of male dominance. Through sex segregated norms and practices, the historical subordination of the female gender makes woman an object to discrimination (Jaleel and Shijith, 2014)².

Arif (2011)³ opined that in spite of increase in the level of social awareness, growing education, prosperity etc. and of various legislation for social development of women they are not empowered to get rid from the shackles of patriarchal structure inside and outside their home. Mehzabeen (2014)⁴ narrated that the persistent low Child Sex Ratios are a manifestation of the reluctant attitude of the people to forgo the notion of ‘better male than female” which has evolved over thousands of years.

The World Bank in its 2012 report on Gender Equality and Development estimated that over the last two decades, around 2.5 lakh girls are killed in India each year. Abortion has become an easy way for getting rid of unwanted pregnancies. Not only the female fetuses are being destroyed but that women resort to repeated abortions is indicative of their poor control over their own bodies and their inability to exercise their reproductive right. A major national survey i.e. the National Family Health Survey-3, 2006-07⁵ has found that the preference for a male child remained quite strong. Nearly 22.40% of the women contacted in this survey preferred a boy as the next child and only 2.6% women wanted a girl, about 20% men respondents preferred boy and 20% men wanted a girl.

The sex ratio at birth is biologically stable at about 105 to 106 male births to 100 female births unless deliberate intervention is done in sex selection before birth. The life expectancy of a male child is low within few months of his birth bringing sex ratio to almost perfect. Any deviation from this biological sex ratio at birth indicates selective interference and this interference can perhaps be explained in terms of sex selective abortions. As a result of the unethical practice of sex selective abortions, the sex ratio of India has been getting more and more disproportionate over the years. Haryana is such a state of India that has recorded extremely low sex ratio among the other states. As the state makes its economic success every year, it wipes out more and more baby girls from its land, considering them an economic burden. It can be better understood through the reflections of Census Report 2011⁶.

SEX RATIO:

As per Census 2011 (Table 1 and 2) India has a sex ratio of 940 which has risen by only 7 points since last Census, which was 933 in 2001⁷. Haryana is no exception to this. Haryana has never crossed the figure of 900 since 1901. If we compare the sex ratio among Indian states, all the states have recorded an improvement excluding Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Lakshadweep. Top three states in terms of sex ratio are Kerala (1084), Puducherry (1038) and Tamil Nadu (995), while the bottom three states are Haryana (877), Jammu and Kashmir (883) and Sikkim (889). However in Haryana the sex ratio has increased to 877 in 2011 from 861 in 2001 Census, a net gain of 16 points, but still it is at the bottom amongst the Indian states.

Table 1 Total Sex Ratio in India and Haryana

India/State	2001	2011
India	933	940
Haryana	861	877

Source: Census of India, 2001 and 2011

Table 2 Top Three and Bottom Three States in terms of Total Sex Ratio in India, 2011

Top Three States	Sex Ratio	Bottom Three States	Sex Ratio
Kerala	1084	Sikkim	889
Puducherry	1038	Jammu and Kashmir	883
Tamil Nadu	995	Haryana	877

Source: Census of India, 2011

If we have a look at the sex ratio of different districts of Haryana State (Table 3 and 4), in 2001 Panchkula recorded the lowest sex ratio of 823 followed by Faridabad at 826. Mahendergarh was at the top with a sex ratio of 918. Now the results of Census 2011 show an increase of 47 points in the sex ratio of Panchkula district, and it reached to 870 while Mahendergarh received a down fall and declined to 894. As per the latest Census, Sonipat, Gurgaon and Jhajjar are the bottom three districts with 853, 853 and 861 sex ratio respectively and Mewat, Fatehabad and Rewari are the top three districts with 906, 903, and 898 sex ratio respectively.

Table 3 Top Three and Bottom Three Districts in terms of Total Sex Ratio in Haryana, 2001

Top Three Districts	Sex Ratio	Bottom Three Districts	Sex Ratio
Mahendergarh	918	Panipat	829
Rewari	899	Faridabad	826
Mewat	899	Panchkula	823

Source: Census of Haryana, 2001

Table 4 Top Three and Bottom Three Districts in terms of Total Sex Ratio in Haryana, 2011

Top Three Districts	Sex Ratio	Bottom Three Districts	Sex Ratio
Mewat	906	Jhajjar	861
Fatehabad	903	Sonipat	853
Rewari	898	Gurgaon	853

Source: Census of Haryana, 2011

Child sex ratio statistics of India in the 0-6 age group for the last few decades show a continuous decline with the sharpest fall from 1981 onwards. As shown in Table 5, the child sex ratio of 927 in the 2001 Census has fallen to 914 in 2011, is alarming, especially since the country seems to be registering an upward growth in other areas. This clearly indicates that economic prosperity and education have no bearing on the sex ratio or in changing the traditional preference for sons over daughters. So while the overall sex ratio presents somewhat encouraging trends across the country in 2011, in the case of 0-6 year sex ratio it has decreased by 13 points. If we analyse the sex ratio state wise only 8 states/ Union Territories have shown an increase, these are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Mizoram, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar. Rest of the 27 states/UTs have seen decline in the sex ratio of age group 0-6 years.

Table 5 Child Sex Ratio in India and Haryana

India/State	2001	2011
India	927	914
Haryana	819	830

Source: Census of India, 2001 and 2011

Although Haryana has a net gain of 11 points in child sex ratio i.e. 819 in 2001 increased to 830 in 2011 Census, still the lowest sex ratio has been reported in Haryana amongst the other states followed by Punjab (846) and Jammu and Kashmir (859). Highest sex ratio in the child population has been reported in the states of Mizoram (971), Meghalaya (970) and Andaman and Nicobar Island (966).

There are five districts in Haryana where sex ratio of child population has decreased from the Census 2001. These are Mahendergarh 818 in 2001 to 778 in 2011 registering a fall of 40 points followed by Jhajjar 801 to 774, Rewari 811 to 784, Bhiwani 841 to 831 and Faridabad 847 to 842. Ironically the decline has not only been in the rural areas as commonly perceived, the problem is even more serious in the urban areas. Now the bottom three districts in terms of child sex ratio in Haryana are Jhajjar (774), Mahendergarh (778) and Rewari (784) and the top three districts are Mewat (903), Palwal (862) and Sirsa (852) as shown in Table 6.

Table 6 Child Sex Ratio in Districts of Haryana- 2001 and 2011

Districts	2001	2011
Mahendergarh	818	778
Jhajjar	801	774
Rewari	811	784
Bhiwani	841	831
Faridabad	847	842

Source: Census of Haryana, 2001 and 2011

The availability of the facility of ultrasound led the people to approach the doctors to abort female foetuses. India has a legacy of killing the female child by putting opium on the mother’s nipple, by feeding the infant with poisonous milk of wild oleanders, by stuffing the mouth with ashes or anything else leading to death due to choking or by several other means after the birth of a girl child or by ill treating daughters. The worst thing about amniocentesis is, it is practiced by all, irrespective of their class, caste, religion, educational or cultural background, while female infanticide was limited only among certain castes. In States like Punjab, Haryana, which are economically prosperous, the attitude towards the girl child is alarmingly unprogressive. Studies conducted by Bose (2003)⁸ show three pre-conditions for the spread of female foeticide; easy access to medical facilities, ability to pay the doctor and abortionist and a good network of roads to cut down the cost of travel and the time taken to travel. In an another study downward trend of sex ratio was explained by the increase in number of sex determination clinics, decreasing cost of this test, social acceptability of the issue and relative safety of abortions.

Over the years, the peasant society of Haryana has imposed a hierarchy that emanates from the land holding structure. With the success of green revolution, the value of land increased and thereby increasing the value of male offspring. The shift to small family size has however been accompanied by a shift at the same time in the economic and social pressures to have sons and avoid daughters. People desire and want few children while ensuring that at least one if not two of these children are sons. This has also led to increased acceptance and use of sex selection tests to achieve parental preferences to have sons while not exceeding the desired number of children. Rashid and Nasir (2013)⁹ in their study citing a major consequence of this demographic imbalance quoted that demographers have warned that in the next twenty years there will be a shortage of brides in the marriage market mainly because of the adverse juvenile sex ratio, combined with an overall decline in fertility. While fertility is declining more rapidly in urban and educated families, nevertheless the preference for male children remains strong. Similarly Pradhan and Deshlahara (2011)¹⁰ viewed that modern and literate societies are more gender biased than simple societies due to their patrilineal system and tradition. In order to increase gender equality some other social measure should be taken along with education.

TRAFFICKING OF GIRLS:

Abhishek (2014)¹¹ in his article explained that trafficking in human beings take place for the purpose of exploitation which in general could be categorized as (a) Sex –based (b) Non-Sex-based. The former category includes trafficking for prostitution or commercial sexual abuse. Non sex based trafficking could be for different types of servitude, like domestic labor, industrial labor, organ transplant or marriage related.

The extremely adverse sex ratio in Haryana has made it very difficult for men to find brides locally which is called as male marriage squeeze. According to the International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family (2003), the phrase marriage squeeze refers to the demographic imbalance in which the number of potential brides does not approximately equal the number of potential grooms. When not everyone has an opportunity to marry, some will be squeezed out of the marriage market. An excess of eligible women is called a female marriage squeeze; an excess of eligible men is called a male marriage squeeze”¹².

Getting a Haryanvi bride is much more difficult for illiterate, less educated and the unemployed youths and they are bound to either bachelorhood or pay for a bride from other states. In the conservative state, where cultural norms frown upon inter-caste and same gotra marriages, young men travel to Bihar, Assam, Chattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Uttarakhand to find brides. In such cases caste, culture and affluence is not considered. With growing prosperity that makes it possible for more young men to pay for brides, agents have set up shops to fix deals for grooms, who usually bear the cost of wedding and offer financial assistance to their in-laws, which is the polite phrase for bride price. Many bachelors have no option but to remain single. However, inspite of the deficit of women, whose impact is being felt in procuring brides, the social norms do not yet seem to be responding.

Pune based NGO Drishti Stree Adhyayan Prabodhan Kendra¹³ surveyed 10,190 households in Haryana and found that 318 women had been brought from elsewhere and married in the state. Women are generally brought for Rs. 20,000/- to Rs. 50,000/-, those who are fair and beautiful get offers upto Rs. 1 Lac. Little girls are not wanted but brides are. It was seen in many villages of Haryana that they buy a bride for the most eligible son and the rest are asked to rely on destiny. Landless, illiterate and unemployed men figure at the bottom of the bride market list.

As per a report published in Dainik Bhaskar¹⁴, there are 2.40 lac women in Haryana (Bahu) who have been brought from other states for the purpose of marriage. The report also says that 46% of the men of marriageable age are still bachelor in Haryana. Some repercussions are being felt by the imported brides who rarely step out of their homes because of the language and other cultural differences. They are treated as social outcastes. The village women look down upon them. It is not easy for them to adjust to life in Haryana, leading to immense social and psychological problem. According to some estimates, by 2025, the group of 20, in India will face a shortage of 11 million women. The number of ‘bare branches’ a term used in China to describe unmarried men without progeny - will keep increasing in India. Local boys of Haryana, normally married off at 18, are unable to find brides until they reach their mid thirties¹⁵.

The public awareness programmes can play an effective role in enhancing the knowledge and developing favourable attitude towards the prevention of female foeticide irrespective of the demographic variables i.e age, gender religion, caste, education, economic status, occupation, type of family and marital status. A large number of studies conducted on preventive measures conclude that the adolescents and health professionals should get enough awareness regarding female foeticide and the laws to stop this evil practice should be strengthened (Merly and Gnanadurai (2016)¹⁶, Kumar and Nair (2015)¹⁷, Kumari Devi (2015)¹⁸, Shyama Devi, Sarin and Nair (2014)¹⁹.

Keeping in view the abysmal sex ratio of Haryana the Government of India launched a scheme Beti Bachao Beti Padhao from Haryana on January 22, 2015. This scheme aims to change the mindset of society to ensure positive attitudinal change towards birth, education and nutrition of girl child. Social mobilization of the community has been made through this scheme in 12 districts of Haryana which were having imbalance in sex ratio. The outcome of this programme is visible through the increase in the sex ratio of the state. The sex ratio at birth which was 871 during 2015 increased to 900 in 2016 and now in 2017 it reached to 914 (PTI, January 13, 2018). In due course of time with the efforts of the government and the civil society gender biased sex selective elimination of the fetus could be prevented and child survival could be ensured, this would lead to prevent the society from related consequences of deficit of girls.

OBJECTIVES:

To have a better understanding of socio-cultural implications of son preference and declining sex ratio in the state in terms of shortage of brides and trafficking of women for the purpose of marriage, a study was conducted with the following objectives.

1. To study select demographic indicators of some of the villages of Kurukshetra and Karnal districts ( i.e. Total population, total sex ratio, 0-1 year population and 0-1 year sex ratio) in the year 2012-13 and 2015-16.

2. To study various dimensions/ issues related to bachelors of marriageable age, men getting wives from other States of India and the brides from other states.

METHODOLOGY:

Qualitative and quantitative research methodologies have been adopted for the present research. The research paper is based on both primary and secondary data. Exploratory Research Design was adopted for the present study.

Sample of the Study:

To study the implications of son preference and female foeticide data has been collected from rural areas, purposively from bachelors and men who had brought wives from other states. To collect this data 4 villages from Thanesar Block, Kurukshetra district and 4 villages from Nilokheri Block, Karnal district were selected keeping in mind the total sex ratio of these villages in 2012-13 (as provided by the concerned CDPO's offices of the blocks). Out of these 4 villages from each district, the sex ratio of 2 villages was below 900 and the sex ratio of other 2 villages was above 900. Thus the villages selected from both the districts with their sex ratios were Mathana (945), Kirmich (928), Barwa (872) and Dyalpur (818) from Kurukshetra district and Doda Karsa (940), Mohri Jagir (904), Sanwat (885) and Jamba (807) from Karnal district.

From Kurukshetra district a total of 46 bachelors and 27 couples (men and their wives from other states) and from Karnal district 41 bachelors and 21 couples (men and their wives from other states) were interviewed as per their availability in the select villages. The distribution of the respondents is shown in Table 7.

FINDINGS:

Table 8 Population and Sex Ratio of Selected Villages, 2012-13

District	Block	Villages	Population			Sex Ratio	0-1 Population			0-1 Sex Ratio
District	Block	Villages	Total	Male	Female	Sex Ratio	Total	Male	Female	0-1 Sex Ratio
Kurukshetra	Thanesar	Mathana	5925	3046	2879	945	98	61	37	606
		Kirmich	7315	3794	3521	928	133	77	56	727
		Barwa	3317	1771	1546	872	64	34	30	882
		Dayalpur	2182	1200	982	818	41	22	19	863
Karnal	Nilokheri	Doda Karsa	3494	1801	1693	940	70	39	31	794
		Mohri Jagir	3481	1828	1653	904	55	36	19	527
		Sawant	3115	1652	1463	885	71	34	37	1088
		Jamba	2184	1208	976	807	51	28	23	821

Source: Records of concerned CDPO’s Offices and Anganwari Centres, 2012-13

Table 9 Population and Sex Ratio of Selected Villages, 2015-16

District	Block	Villages	Population			Sex Ratio	0-1 Population			0-1 Sex Ratio
District	Block	Villages	Total	Male	Female	Sex Ratio	Total	Male	Female	0-1 Sex Ratio
Kurukshetra	Thanesar	Mathana	3316	3053	6369	920	58	63	121	1086
		Kirmich	3382	3213	6595	950	44	54	98	1227
		Barwa	1823	1643	3466	901	31	29	60	935
		Dayalpur	1649	1448	3097	878	30	21	51	700
Karnal	Nilokheri	Doda Karsa	1959	1950	3909	995	39	31	70	794
		Mohri Jagir	1686	1647	3333	976	42	32	74	761
		Sawant	2210	2106	4316	952	37	34	71	918
		Jamba	1116	1024	2140	917	22	22	44	1000

Source: PHCs and Concerned Anganwari Centres, 2015-16

Tables 8 and 9 show some of the demographic indicators of the selected 8 villages i.e. 4 from Kurukshetra and 4 from Karnal district. If we look at the data for sex ratio of the total population it reveals that 3 villages from Kurukshetra district i.e. Kirmich, Dayalpur and Barwa showed an improvement in the total sex ratio in 2015-16 from the year 2012-13. The total sex ratio of Kirmich was 928 in 2012-13 which increased to 950, Dayalpur was having a low 818 Total Sex Ratio in 2012-13, which increased to 878 and Barwa was having 872 total sex ratio in 2012-13 which was increased to 901. However Mathana showed a decline in total sex ratio. Mathana recorded the total sex ratio of 920 in 2015-16 while it had 945 in 2012-13.

The total sex ratio of all the four selected villages of Karnal district showed an increase in 2015-16 from 2012-13.

If we look at the figures for sex ratio in the age group 0-1 years, then it is evident that three villages of Kurukshetra district and two villages of Karnal district have received a gain in the 0-1 year sex ratio. Two villages of Kurukshetra district i.e. Kirmich and Mathana have received remarkable gain in the 0-1 sex ratio. In 2012-13 Kirmich was at 727 and Mathana was at 606 and in 2015-16 these villages reached at 1227 and 1086 respectively. In Karnal district Jamba had recorded a sex ratio of 821 in 2012-13 in 0-1 age group which also increased remarkably and reached at 1000 in 2015-16. Barwa village of Kurukshetra reached at 935 from 882 and Mohari Jagir from Karnal reached at 761 from 527 in 2012-13.

In Kurukshetra district Dayalpur village and in Karnal district Sawant village have recorded a loss in terms of 0-1 sex ratio. In the year 2012-13 Dayalpur was having a sex ratio of 863 and Sawant was at 1088 while in 2015-16 they came down to 700 and 918 respectively. Doda Karsa village of Karnal district maintained the same figure in 2015-16. Thus, it can be said that however the overall picture of the sex ratio has shown an improvement, still there are some villages which have not reached at a satisfactory level and more efforts are required for improvement.

The findings showed that the number of bachelors in the above villages ranged from 8 to 13 and number of men having wives from other states ranged from 2 to 13 with Dyalpur having the highest number of such men. It was also tried to know the caste-wise population of these selected villages. It was observed that the male-female balance was much disturbed among the Ror and Jat communities. The largest number of bachelors was found in Ror community followed by Sainis and Jats. The results also revealed that men belonging to Ror and Saini communities have opted to get married with girls from other states while Jat men have chosen to remain bachelors. No Jat was found solemnizing such type of marriages. Most of the bachelor’s age ranged from 23-35 years and a few were even above 40 years. Majority of these respondents were educated upto senior secondary level only and their main occupation was farming, however some of them were in service or wage labourers. Most of them were earning upto Rs. 5000/- per month and owned 1-5 acre of land.

The decision regarding the marriages in other states was taken mostly by parents and the role of the mediator in fixing such marriages did not seem important. On being asked about the reasons for not getting married, most of the bachelors reported lack of land and lack of employment. If they had either of these two, they would not have remained bachelors. Some of them reported that lack of education and the custom of "Atta-Satta" (a tradition prevalent in some parts of Haryana where two families exchange their marriageable sons or daughters thus settling four lives together) are also responsible for their miseries. They admitted that female foeticide is responsible for the skewed sex ratio of the state, which is creating the problem of shortage of marriageable girls for bachelors of marriageable age, as a result young bachelors and their relatives have to travel to states like Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh to find brides, while many bachelors have no option but to remain single.

In many cases it was observed that the girls were brought from the neighboring states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and in some cases they were brought from the far off states like Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir. It was very surprising to note that when the bachelors were asked their preference for marriage, most of them preferred same caste girl, on the other hand in their own community some men had married to an out state girl whose caste did not match with their own. Most of these brides belonged to the backward castes. Further, they spent Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 60,000 on such marriages and this expenditure was incurred on commission of the mediator or dowry arrangements from the brides’ side or on the arrangements related to marriage. It was noticed that the mediator fixing the marriage was not a professional one rather he was in any relation to the bride grooms’ family. About 16% respondents admitted that they themselves found the link to contact the family of the girl in other states while more than 17% of them said that their relatives helped them finding a match in other state. When a family due to some link in other state gets a girl for their marriageable bachelor, this link becomes an important thread for other bachelors of that village too to get more girls since it was reported by the respondents that the girls brought in a village not only hailed from the same state rather they were cousins or in any other relation.

It was also revealed that when the bachelors were asked that why did they not opt for such marriages, most of them said that they wanted to wait for a girl from their own caste and from own state because a girl from an unknown family could not be trusted. But for how long they would wait, they were not sure of it. Rather they accepted that the bachelors could get into addiction or get involved in any crime if they remain single. Over age would create more problem to find a suitable match not only in their own caste but in other states also thus they seemed in a dilemma.

It was also observed that the brides from other states were educated upto senior secondary level and at the time of marriage their age ranged from 19-23 years. The socio-economic background of their families was not very sound and they came primarily from the families with no landholdings. In most of the cases the fathers of these girls were contract cultivators or running small orchards on contract basis. In some cases they were running petty business and their income was below Rs. 10,000 per month. These girls were happy living here, at least they were getting better living conditions here, however they had to adjust to many things like hot climate, language, food hobbits and traditional practices of Haryana. Some of them even reported to be treated as outsiders (baharwali) by other women of the village. Genetic change in the facial features, complexion and height of the children born to these women was also observed since these women bear different physical stature.

The families into which the women are married, it appeared that did not try and make adjustments for them. In the initial period these women tried to reach out to other women in the family or in the neighbourhood, but they were considered inferior to the local women due to their unknown caste status and different language. This is substantiated in the earlier study done by Kukreja and Kumar (2013)²⁰who in their findings argued about the institutionalized rejection meted out by these bought brides in both public and private spaces, where they are branded by the family and the local community as ‘the other’, as lower caste and as inferior. They faced constraints on their movements. While local brides routinely visit their natal families during important festivals, this privilege does not extend to these long distance brides. Some of them also reported incidents of sexual harassment by the family members. Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi who has worked for the upliftment of trafficked children and girls, says “Bride Trafficking” is a difficult network to bust because a very few brides have the courage to come out and talk about their harassment. According to Satyarthi, like marital rape, bride trafficking is also an unseen yet glaring problem which needs to be addressed urgently. There are cases where women are abducted and then sold as brides so far away from their homes that they have difficulty in contacting their relatives again (Palriwala and Oberoi, 2008)²¹.

CONCLUSION:

Socially as well as economically advanced societies have shown a sex ratio favourable to the female, but for many South and South-east Asian countries this relationship has not been so straightforward. Women derive value and status only as mothers of sons. Their happiness and social status in the conjugal homes is dependent on producing sons. Women have internalized these roles and values to such an extent that even when they say that daughters take better care of parents or are more emotionally attached to the mothers, these statements have a ring of hollowness because in spite of such feelings, more sons than daughters are desired. In the pursuit of sons, they have become, with some pressure from the families, consumers of the new technology of ultrasound, which allows them to choose and bear sons. Rampant female foeticide in Haryana has led to the most disturbed sex ratio in the country, which has resulted in the shortage of brides for bachelors of marriageable age. This problem has given birth to a new practice of trafficking of girls from other states for the purpose of marriage and ultimately the sufferers are only the women. Poverty coupled with inability to pay dowry demands of local grooms and the internalization of patriarchal norms about women’s sexuality and marriage compel both parents and daughters into accepting such cross region marriage alliances. Lack of access to resources and livelihood options also make such marriages attractive to people. The findings indicate that brides find it difficult to assimilate into conjugal families or communities. Given the current scenario of female deficit in the region, women will continue to be needed for their free labour, but at the same time be rejected because of traditionalism. Anti-female bias reflects the hold of traditional masculinist values from which mothers themselves are not immune, what is needed is the freedom of thought in women’s ability and willingness to question received values.

SUGGESTIONS:

There is a need to put strict vigilance upon the ultrasound clinics and publicize vigorously the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act as well as to involve the civil society to deal with the issue of declining sex ratio so that the problem of trafficking of girls for the purpose of marriage can be addressed. Systematic and rigorous planning can play important role in establishing equality in the society. The policies and programmes should incorporate analysis of the situation, strategic design to deal with it, developing communication tools, implementation and impact evaluation. Women’s education as a policy prescription should be carefully thought out. Men should also be educated to value and support women. The content of education should promote social equality in every way. These programs must start from school level targeting school children from class IX^th to XII^th in order to sensitize them, make them aware of the problem. Training should be given to teachers for gender sensitization. Targeting the youth in colleges and universities would also help as they are the prospective parents. NSS volunteers of colleges and universities can take up the issue and implement it in their outreach programmes. The mass media can play a pivotal role in changing the minds of the people towards girl child which can play an important role in balancing the sex ratio. Adequate economic opportunities for women and comprehensive development programmess can enhance the position of women in society.

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Received on 27.01.2018 Modified on 11.02.2018

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2018; 9(2): 375-382.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2018.00065.7

District Kurukshetra Block Thanesar			District Karnal Block Nilokheri
Villages	No. of bachelors of marriageable age	No. of Couples (men and their wives from other states)	Villages	No. of bachelors of marriageable age	No. of Couples (men and their wives from other states)
Kirmich	12	00	Jamba	12	07
Mathana	11	12	Sanwat	11	06
Barwa	13	02	Mohri Jagir	10	02
Dayalpur	10	13	Doda Karsa	08	06
Total	46	27		41	21