This deficit can be seen from the masculine ratio, which has increased from 1,029 men per 1,000 population in 1901 to 1,079 men per 1,000 population in 1991. Also, the deficit of women is smaller in the southern states when compared to the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. What was disturbing was the decline in the female sex ratio in societies where no previous history of such discrimination existed. They point out that despite the tremendous social, political and economic advantages enjoyed by India's Hindu population, their record, when it comes to prejudice against women, is the worst. In sharp contrast, the least discrimination against girls exists among the marginalized, impoverished scheduled tribes.
Tribal women enjoy a fair amount of equality with men.
However, the socially underprivileged scheduled castes seem to have copied the higher-caste groups' discriminatory treatment of their daughters. Antifemale prejudices are not as blatant among predominantly urbanized and better-educated Jains and Christians. The Buddhists have a lower deficit than the Hindus and the Muslims. Overall, the deficit of women is the lowest among the Christians and the highest in the Sikh community. On the eve of his retirement as director of health services in Punjab, Puran Singh Jassi admitted that Punjab's sex ratio is alarming.