Intensifying Infant Mortality Inequality in India and a Reversal by Policy Intervention

Abstract

The adverse sex ratio, a feature of India, is an outcome of two forms of inequality; natal inequality through sex‐selective abortion, and mortality inequality. The analysis of trends in mortality inequality at the infant stage, which is the subject of this paper, in the rural and urban areas of 15 major Indian states reveals that overall mortality inequality has intensified. This is particularly the case in the developed states, accounting for a large proportion of the foregone reduction in the infant mortality rate. However, the trend in Tamil Nadu state points to a reversal in mortality inequality in recent years on account of multi‐pronged policy interventions by the state government, which are aimed at protecting the girl child. The political‐will of the party in power during 1991–1996 and 2001–2006 in Tamil Nadu points the way for the rest of the nation, and is possibly the way for India to achieve the Millennium Development Goal with respect to the infant mortality rate.