Bio-Social determinants of reproductive performance among the Santhals of Seraikela - Kharsawan district, Jharkhand

Abstract

The present study was conducted among the Santhals of Seraikela Kharsawan District of Jharkhand, India. The Santhals, the third largest tribal community of India are mostly distributed in the East Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, and Tripura. Data was collected from 1000 ever-married women in the reproductive ages (15-49 years) from seven Santhal villages of the district through intensive demographic researchin order to understand the overall bio-social determinants of their reproductive performance. TheSanthal s population pyramid presents youthful population with high fertility, typical of developing countries. Sex ratio of the present study(943.89) is slightly higher than the Indian average (940) but lower than Jharkhand, rural Jharkhand and rural India. Both total literacy and sex-specific literacy levels of the Santhals of Jharkhand are lower than figures for Jharkhand and India.Further, about 90% of all the female literates in the reproductive ages have education only up to primary level. The mean age at marriage for men is +24 years and that of women is +18 years. 60% of the women are housewives though their contribution to agriculture is immense. The per capita annual income (PCAI) of the Santhalsmostly ranges from `1000 to `15000. Women although are involved in decisions concerning household expenses, celebrations at home and the like,decisions on financial matters solely taken by husbands. Quite a few cases of physical, verbal and sexual abuses by husband on their wives have been reported. Contraceptive methods are not popular among the Santhals.However, differential fertility between literate and illiterate women can be clearly seen wherein 90% of all live births occurred to the illiterates whose population comprises about 65% of the total ever-married women. Fertility rates (CBR, GFR and TFR) of the Santhalswerefound to be higher than he average rates for Jharkhand and India.