Match the Indian States/Union Territory (List – I) with their Sex-Ratio (List – II).
List – I
States/Union Territory
a. Kerala
b. Tamil Nadu
c. Puducherry
d. Andhra Pradesh
List – II
Sex-Ratio (Census

Question

Match the Indian States/Union Territory (List – I) with their Sex-Ratio (List – II).
List – I
States/Union Territory
a. Kerala
b. Tamil Nadu
c. Puducherry
d. Andhra Pradesh
List – II
Sex-Ratio (Census – 2011)
i. 996
ii. 1037
iii. 1084
iv. 993

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — printed option (4), which pairs list item a (Kerala) with roman numeral iii (1084), list item b (Tamil Nadu) with roman numeral i (996), list item c (Puducherry) with roman numeral ii (1037), and list item d (Andhra Pradesh) with roman numeral iv (993). Every one of these four figures is the Census 2011 sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) actually recorded for that state or Union Territory. Kerala's 1084 is the highest sex ratio of any Indian state in the 2011 Census, a position it has held across recent censuses on account of factors like historically high female literacy, better healthcare access and lower relative male out-migration compared to other regions. Puducherry's 1037 places it above the national average of 940 and above every large state except Kerala, which is a pattern often noted for this small, largely urbanised Union Territory. Tamil Nadu's 996 and undivided Andhra Pradesh's 993 both sit close to, but just under, the 1,000 mark — meaning both had slightly more males than females in the 2011 count, unlike Kerala and Puducherry. Getting this match right requires holding these four specific numbers rather than only a rough sense of 'Kerala is high, others are around parity' — the two lower figures (996 and 993) are close enough that swapping list item b and list item d is the easiest slip, and this option is the only one of the four that keeps every pairing correct.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Wrong on every pairing that matters most: it assigns roman numeral ii (1037, Puducherry's actual figure) to list item a (Kerala), and roman numeral iii (1084, Kerala's actual figure) to list item b (Tamil Nadu). Kerala's sex ratio is the highest among all Indian states at 1084, not 1037 — the 1037 figure belongs to Puducherry. Swapping these two is the single most common error in this fact set, because both Kerala and Puducherry are widely known as India's two 'high sex-ratio' territories, and a candidate who remembers that fact without the exact numbers can easily transpose them.  (b) Wrong because it assigns roman numeral iv (993, Andhra Pradesh's actual figure) to list item a (Kerala) and roman numeral iii (1084, Kerala's actual figure) to list item d (Andhra Pradesh) — effectively swapping the highest sex ratio in this list with the lowest. Kerala's 1084 is far above the national average and is not interchangeable with Andhra Pradesh's below-1,000 figure; this pairing would make Kerala look like a low-sex-ratio state and Andhra Pradesh the highest of the four, which reverses the true picture entirely.  (c) Wrong because it assigns roman numeral i (996, Tamil Nadu's actual figure) to list item a (Kerala), when Kerala's actual figure is 1084 (roman numeral iii). It also misassigns Puducherry (list item c) to roman numeral iv (993, Andhra Pradesh's figure) instead of its own ii (1037), and gives Andhra Pradesh (list item d) the figure iii (1084) that belongs to Kerala. Three of the four pairings are disturbed at once, which is why this option reads as plausible only if none of the four exact figures is held firmly in memory.

Concept: Sex ratio, in Indian census usage, is expressed as the number of females per 1,000 males, and it is one of the standard socio-demographic indicators reported state-wise and Union Territory-wise in every decadal Census. The Census 2011 all-India sex ratio was 940 females per 1,000 males — an improvement over Census 2001's 933 — but this national figure conceals wide regional variation, with Kerala and Puducherry sitting well above 1,000 while several northern and western states sit well below the national average.

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