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Indian Society A ctivity 2.3 The problem, however, is employment. Data from the Government of India sources reveal a sharp fall in the rate of employment generation (creation of What impact do you new jobs) across both rural and urban areas. This think the age structure has on inter - generational is true for the young as well. The rate of growth of employment in the 15–30 age group, which stood at relationships? For instance, around 2.4 per cent a year between 1987 and 1994 could a high dependency for both rural and urban men, fell to 0.7 for rural men ratio create conditions and 0.3 per cent for urban men during 1994 to 2004. for increasing tension This suggests that the advantage offered by a young between older and younger generations? Or labour force is not being exploited. Strategies exist to exploit the demographic window would it make for closer of opportunity that India has today. But India’s relationships and stronger recent experience suggests that market forces by bondsbetweenyoungand themselves do not ensure that such strategies would old? Discussthisinclassand be implemented. Unless a way forward is found, try to come up with a list of possibleoutcomesandthe we may miss out on the potential benefits that the country’s changing age structure temporarily offers. reasons why they happen. [Source: Adapted from an article by C.P. Chandrashekhar in Frontline Volume 23 - Issue 01, January 14–27, 2006] 2.4 T he D eclining S ex- ratio in India The sex ratio is an important indicator of gender balance in the population. As mentioned in the section on concepts earlier, historically, the sex ratio has been slightly in favour of females, that is, the number of females per 1000 males has generally been somewhat higher than 1000. However, India has had a declining sex-ratio for more than a century, as is clear from Table 3. From 972 females per 1000 males at the turn of the twentieth century, the sex ratio has declined to 933 at the turn of the twenty-first century. The trends of the last four decades have been particularly worrying – from 941 in 1961 the sex ratio had fallen to an all-time low of 927 in 1991 before posting a modest increase in 2001. According to Census of India 2011 sex ratio has increased and now it is 943 females per 1000 males. But what has really alarmed demographers, policy makers, social activists and concerned citizens is the drastic fall in the child sex ratio. Age specific sex ratios began to be computed in 1961. As is shown in Table 3, the sex ratio for the 0 – 6 years age group (known as the juvenile or child sex ratio) has generally been substantially higher than the overall sex ratio for all age groups, but it has been falling very sharply. In fact the decade 1991–2001 represents an anomaly in that theoverallsexratiohasposteditshighesteverincreaseof6pointsfromthealltime 24 low of 927 to 933, but the child sex ratio has dropped from 945 to 927, a plunge of 18 points taking it below the overall sex ratio for the first time. In 2011 Census (provisional) the child sex ratio again decreased by 13 points and now it is 919. Reprint 2026-27