We are a quarter of the way into the 21st century, and in India, we still see families with many children, with the last one being a son. Some couples may even have kept trying until they had a son. Before you judge them, it is important to understand the societal pressure of having at least a son to “complete” the family.
An International Institute of Popular Sciences (IIPS) analysis using NFHS-5 also found that couples’ desire for more children differs depending on the sex of their existing children, with a stronger desire for another child among those whose first or second children are daughters. Researchers said this is a factor contributing to excess fertility, even as the preference for a son has declined in the past three decades in the country.
This International Day of the Girl Child, let us look at how, after years of incentivising the birth of a girl child, the focus has extended, albeit in a small way, to families with just one child, that too a daughter. Also worth noting is that this focus is essentially on their education and not just celebrating their birth or facilitating their marriage.
Setting the foundation
An interesting instance of how a single girl child can become a policy category is the Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) offering reservation quotas and fee waivers for single girl children. KVs reserve two seats per section in Class 1 and two per section from Class 6 onwards exclusively for single-girl children, including twin girls. These are supernumerary; created over and above the approved intake. From Classes 9-12, KVs also exempt single-girl children from paying the monthly tuition fee.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) also provides a merit-based financial stipend for single-girl children. Again, there are some basic criteria, such as annual family income and a certain percentage of marks that must be met.
The push for higher education
The University of Delhi offers seats to single-girl children. These seats are supernumerary. Across all courses, in every college and department, DU offers one seat for a single girl child.
While the candidate still has to sit for the common entrance test, this is a welcome step toward reminding parents that a girl child is enough, and they aren’t missing anything by not having a son after all.
At the postgraduate level, DU offers one seat for a single girl child. Complementing this are UGC scholarships and fellowships, including the PG Indira Gandhi Scholarship, which provides Rs 36,200 over two years to eligible girls aged up to 30, and the Savitribai Jyotirao Phule Fellowship for PhD programmes. Junior Research Fellows receive Rs 37,000 per month for the first two years, and Senior Research Fellows receive Rs 42,000 per month for the remaining tenure, up to five years in total.
One daughter, or one child?
India’s girl-child policies have traditionally tried to make daughters more desirable by reducing the perceived financial burden of raising them, keeping them in school, and improving their access to higher education. But falling fertility rates show that Indians are now veering towards having fewer children.
India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR), the average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime, has fallen to 1.9, below the replacement level of 2.1, according to the Sample Registration System Statistical Report 2024 published by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
While education and a lower infant mortality rate must definitely be major contributors to the trend, incentivising a single girl child is how the system reinforces a simple truth: one girl is also enough to complete the family.
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