Patna, April 11: The people of Bihar still prefer a male child, in spite of the state government’s efforts to improve a girl’s life that has resulted in an upswing in the female literacy rate.

According to the provisional Census 2011 figures released for the state today, apart from witnessing an overall decline in the sex ratio — from 919 in 2001 to 916 this year — Bihar has also witnessed a dip in the child sex ratio (in the age-group of 0 to 6 years).

In 2001, there were 942 girl children for every 1000 males in this age-group, now the number has come down to 933.

The 2001 numbers showed that the state had 18 districts which had more number of girls than the overall average for Bihar. But the number of such districts has come down to 16 in the 2011 Census.

However, the state can draw strength from the fact that the female literacy rate has recorded a 20 per cent jump in the past decade — from a lowly 33.12 per cent in 2001, it has now gone up to 53.33 per cent. As many as 21 of the 38 Bihar districts have a higher female literacy rate than the state average.

But contrary to the popular belief that an increase in the female literacy rate would lead to a reversal of such trend, the Bihar Census results have thrown up figures which would force many to think otherwise.

Take the example of Patna district, which has 899 girl children against every 1000 males in the age-group of 0 to 6 years. This, in spite of the fact that the district has a female literacy percentage of 63.72 which is far more than the state figure of 53.33 per cent.

The same applies to Vaishali district where the child sex ratio is 894, the lowest in Bihar, whereas the female literacy percentage is 59.1, again more than the state average.

“Like many other states, the weakness for male children is very much visible in Bihar. Sex determination test is the main culprit for decline in the number of girl children,” said Arun Kumar Sinha, honorary director of the Population Research Centre.

Reacting to the findings, Bihar health minister Ashwini Choubey said: “We have taken notice of the fact and very soon special flying squads would be set up to keep tabs on nursing homes so that the law dealing with sex-determination test can be effectively implemented.”

Choubey said the government would also intensify its awareness drive on the importance of girl children.

Also of concern is the fact that only one district — Gopalganj — has more number of females than males with the ratio standing at 1015. In the last Census, there were two such districts — Gopalganj (1001) and Siwan (1031). The sex ratio for Siwan has slipped to 984 this year.

However, the government can draw some solace from the fact that there has been an increase in the number of districts with more number of females than the state average. There are 18 such districts now, two more than the 2001 figure.