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Five Haryana districts have less than 900 females per 1,000 males
The five districts having less than 900 females per 1,000 males at birth are Rohtak at 883, Mahendergarh at 887, Sonepat at 894, Charkhi Dadri and Rewari at 897
Five Haryana districts registered sex ratio of less than 900 females per 1,000 males at birth in 2023 despite that state’s sex ratio at birth (SRB) being 916 at present, said additional chief secretary (ACS, health) G Anupama while addressing a state-level stakeholder meeting on Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) on Saturday.
The sex ratio at birth is a comparison of the number of girls born vis-a-vis boys in a certain year. It helps authorities tackle the imbalance caused by the rampant gender-biased sex selection practices.
The five districts having less than 900 females per 1,000 males at birth are Rohtak at 883, Mahendergarh at 887, Sonepat at 894, Charkhi Dadri and Rewari at 897.
Anupama said more than 52,000 girls have been saved since the rollout of BBBP programme in Haryana. The BBBP was launched in Haryana on January 22, 2015, by the Prime Minister from Panipat.
Anupama said that to strengthen the BBBP programme in Haryana, the women and child development department, National Health Mission (NHM) and education department must work closely with monitoring regularly.
“Implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, regular sensitisation of police, prosecution and health officers on PC-PNDT, MTP Acts, curbing online and over the counter) sale of MTP kits is important. All approved MTP centres need to be audited to check illegal MTP and abuse of MTP kits. The state headquarters will conduct monthly meetings with all districts through video conference regularly,’’ she added.
The health department will ensure early registration of every pregnancy and focus group discussions will be held by accredited social health activists with villages in small groups to make people aware of PC-PNDT and MTP laws and their implications on society.
Anupama said that district task force meetings should be held every month and the monitoring system needs to be strengthened up to the village level. The civil surgeons will conduct meetings with Indian Medical Associations (IMA) regarding timely registrations of births.
Commissioner and secretary, women and child development Amneet P Kumar said that capacity building of field staff will be done so that they can make the general public aware of the PC-PNDT and MTP laws. Training will be conducted at the state level and replicated in the districts in a cascade model regarding the PC-PNDT and MTP Acts.
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