Introduction
Socio-culturally the indigenous populations of Bihar have no gender bias and do not have practices prevalent in some other part of the country like exorbitant dowry and the belief that only son can perform last rites or men are the bread earner of the family etc.
But we also have a considerable size of population who are from the region where above practices and beliefs mentioned are highly prevalent.
Mild preferences for son have been reported by NFHS 2 survey among married women in bihar. In another survey conducted among married men from rural bihar, mild preference for boy child has been reported. However there is no data or studies to say whether Female foeticide or sex selective abortion is prevalent or not in the state. The child sex ratio as per census 2011 which is 943 females / 1000 males. The natural estimated range is 950 girls to 975 boys (census 2011; Guidance: Ensuring Access to Safe Abortion and Gender Biased Sex Selection, MHFW GoI, Feb’2015).
