- Mock Question for UPSC Mains GS2
- Introduction (Define / Origin)
- How it impacts Gender Inequality Index?
- Conclusion (futuristic note: yes कुछ तो करना होगा)
- Mistakes and Self-Assessment Benchmarks (SAB)
Mock Question for UPSC Mains GS2
- What do you understand by the term “Son Meta-Preference”? How does it impact India’s performance in the Gender Inequality Index of UNDP ? (250 words, 15 marks)
- ‘सन-मेटा-परेफरेंस / ‘पुत्री के बाद पुत्र की चाह’ शब्द को समझाइए. इस से यु.एन.डी.पी. के लिंग असमानता सूचकांक में भारत के प्रदशर्न को क्या असर होता है?
- Relevance to UPSC GSM2-Syllabus? Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes. (Because if the schemes were perfect, this wouldn’t have happened!)
- Self-Study: Economic Survey 2017-18 Chapter 7 in Hindi or English. Click on links for FREE PDF.
Introduction (Define / Origin of Son Meta-Preference)
- (Define) Son Meta-Preference is the phenomena where parents continue to produce children until the desired number of sons are born. According to Economic Survey-2017-18, there are over 21 million. ‘unwanted girls’ in India, by analysing the sex ratio of last child (SRLC).
- (Origin) Due to strict implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act in India, the sex-selective abortion of female foetus have become difficult. However, couples have adopted a different strategy where they’ll continue to produce children until desired number of sons are born. Economic Survey 2017-18 has used the term ‘Son Meta-Preference’ to describe this phenomenon. According to this survey, there are over 21 million ‘unwanted girls’ in India who were when the couples wanted a male-child.
How it impacts Gender Inequality Index?
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Gender Inequality Index (GII) measures the gender disparity among countries on following parameters:
- Reproductive health as seen from MMR and adolescent birth rate.
- Empowerment through higher education and parliamentary seats.
- Labour market participation.
I’ve given statistical data only for educational purpose. You’re not expected to memorize it for descriptive answers.
India’s Son Meta-Preference affects its GII rank in following manner:
Reproductive Health
- Due to Son Meta-Preference, the wife is often forced to produce more than two children, which is detrimental to her health.
- And as such girls and women are neglected in their food and health needs. Majority of them suffer from anaemia and malnutrition. As a result, India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is 174 deaths per 1 lakh live births.
- Since daughters are seen as burden, poor parents are keen to marry them off as soon as possible. Childmarriages lead to early pregnancy. For India, 23 children out of every 1000 children are born by mothers in the 15-19 age group. In other words, Adolescence Birth Rate is high.
- Having child at an early age hinders the mother in pursuing higher studies and career ambitions for herself.
Education and Occupation
- Since sons are given preference over daughters in education and nutrition, the girls lag behind. Less than 40% of Indian women complete secondary education.
- As a result, their share in jobs and politics also remains dismal.
- India’s female Labour Force Participation Rate is less than 30%, whereas in China it’s more than 60%
- India’s female share in parliament seats is less than 12% whereas for China it’s more than 24%.
Conclusion (futuristic note: yes कुछ तो करना होगा)
- Sustainable Development Goal SDG# 5 requires India to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Son-meta preference is an obstacle in this. For both human and economic development of India, it’s imperitve that we address this mentality of giving preference to sons over daughters. OR
- While initiatives such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Sukanya Samridhi Yojana are important steps in gender empowerment, yet, India’s GII rank has fallen from 127 in 2017 to 130 in 2018. It shows that Government schemes alone can’t reduce the gender inequality until the collective will and mindset of Indian society changes.
Mistakes and Self-Assessment Benchmarks (SAB)
Parameter | Marks | Benchmarks |
---|---|---|
Introduction | 0-1-2 |
|
Conclusion | 0-1-2 |
|
Body | 0 to 4 marks |
|
Logical structure | -1 to 0 |
|
Concise expression | -1 to 0 |
|
Language | -1 to 0 |
|
Total Marks out of 15 | 0 to 8 |
|
Visit Mrunal.org/Mains for more on UPSC Mains Answer-writing for General Studies Paper-2 (GSM2).
MMR figure should be 130 (2014-16 NFHS)
http://niti.gov.in/content/maternal-mortality-ratio-mmr-100000-live-births
https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/from-167-to-130-india-s-maternal-mortality-rate-down-by-22/story-MEzNZX7VGGIiewyYK7dNDI.html
where did you get GII of 130 for 2018? I could find HDI at 130 for 2018 but in the report GII is only mentioned for 2017 (127)