Agnihotri Satish Balram. Sex Ratio Patterns in the Indian Population: A Fresh Exploration. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000. 379 pages. Hardbound. Indian Rs 475.00.

The term sex ratio is used to mean male per 1,000 female population, while the female-male ratio (FMR) means the number of females per 1,000 male population. The proportion of women to men in the Indian population is 927 to 1,000, strikingly below the world average of 990 to 1,000. What is of major concern is the fact that this female-male ratio (FMR) not only has a declining trend but also varies by region, social status, age group, and levels of prosperity. This book provides an entirely fresh perspective on the perplexing puzzle of the low proportion of women in the Indian population. The main focus of this study is on mapping the diverse and complex pattern of the FMRs along different relevant dimensions. The analysis also shows sensitivity to diversity that improves our understanding of the problem significantly even at rudimentary levels of analysis.