APCL executive director Mridula Prakash and (right) delegate Dr Ajay Singh at the seminar in Patna on Friday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Dec. 21: The declining ratio of women to men in the country would lead to an escalation of gender violence, said social worker Mridula Prakash at a seminar at Soochana Bhavan today.

Experts also said by 2020, there would be 2.5 crore more men in India than women. Gender imbalance would lead to more problems, like increase in violence against women.

Prakash, executive director, Association for Promotion of Creative Living, said: “The situation is grim, especially in Bihar where the child sex ratio in some villages is very low. It is a dangerous trend.”

Child sex ration is the number of female children per 1,000 male children.

She added that young men who have no stake in society would be prone to criminal activity.

“Families need to inculcate the right values in children to prevent them from becoming violent individuals,” said Prakash.

She added that it was essential to keep tabs on clinics that continue to conduct the illegal sex determination.

“There is also an urgent need to educate school and college students about gender-related issued,” said Prakash.

Planning and development department principal secretary Vijoy Prakash said the state government is serious about improving the child sex ratio in the state. “The government is running several programmes to improve the situation,” he added.