NEW DELHI – The pink-coloured Economic Survey document tabled by Indianfinance minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament on Monday said that the adversesex ratio of females to males has led to 63 million “missing” women inIndia.

The colour of this year’s survey cover, presented by chief economic adviserArvind Subramanian, was chosen as a symbol of support for the growingmovement to end violence against women, which spans continents.

The Survey highlighted a phenomenon of son metapreference which involvesparents adopting fertility “stopping rules” having children until thedesired number of sons is born.

“This metapreference leads naturally to the notional category of ‘unwanted’girls which is estimated at over 21 million,” says the Survey.

Laying special emphasis on gender development, the Survey cautioned that onseveral indicators, notably employment, use of reversible contraception,and son preference, India has some distance to traverse despite thecountry’s economic progress.

The percentage of working women has declined over time from 36% beingemployed in 2005-06 to 24% of women employed in 2015-16, pointed out theSurvey. (Hindustan Times)