Haryana’s sex ratio at birth drops to 905
Haryana, a state known for gender imbalance, now faces the risk of hitting its lowest SRB in eight years if this trend continues in November and December, health department officials associated with the flagship ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme said.
Haryana has recorded 905 female births per 1,000 male births till October this year, a decline that health department officials describe as “worrying” due to its potential to significantly impact the state’s annual sex ratio at birth (SRB).
Haryana, a state known for gender imbalance, now faces the risk of hitting its lowest SRB in eight years if this trend continues in November and December, health department officials associated with the flagship ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme said.
Data from the Civil Registration System (CRS) up to October 2024 shows that the SRB of six districts have dipped below 900. Even districts with historically better performance are seeing an alarming drop in female births.
Gurugram has the lowest SRB, with 859 female births per 1,000 male births till October. It is followed by Rewari (868), Charkhi Dadri (873), Rohtak (880), Panipat (890), and Mahendergarh (896).
In contrast, Yamunanagar leads with an SRB of 944, followed by Sirsa (942) and Fatehabad (940). Other districts showing higher SRBs include Ambala (904), Bhiwani (902), Faridabad (900), Hisar (909), Jhajjar (924), Jind (901), Kaithal (913), Karnal (934), Kurukshetra (914), Nuh (924), Palwal (908), Panchkula (909), and Sonepat (900).
Dr Usha Gupta, Haryana government’s advisor for the ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ initiative, said that awareness campaigns were launched in the last one year in villages with SRB below 900.
“Inter-departmental coordination was established to ensure our raids to nab those involved in gender determination are successful,” said Dr Gupta, a retired director general of health services of Haryana.
Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme in 2015, Haryana’s SRB has shown gradual improvement—from a low of 876 in 2015 to an all-time high of 923 in 2019.
However, the SRB has fluctuated, standing at 914 in 2017, 2018 and 2021, rising slightly to 917 in 2022, but slipping to 916 in 2023.
“With an average SRB of 905 over the past 10 months, it is highly unlikely that Haryana’s annual SRB will match last year’s figure of 916,” said an expert involved in the programme since its launch. “These trends indicate that Haryana’s SRB may hit its lowest point since 2016,” the official added.
The SRB is a critical indicator of gender equality and better SRB leads to improvement in the child sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males in the 0-6 age group).
Health dept looking into ‘drastic changes’
Government sources said on Wednesday that women and child development minister Shruti Chaudhry, during a meeting with women and child department officers, “gathered information about the challenges” Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiative was facing.
A health department official said the “drastic changes” in the SRB data noticed in September and October were puzzling. For instance, the SRB of Ambala, Bhiwani, and Karnal fell by eight, 19, and 11 points in October in comparison to September. On the other hand, SRB of Jhajjar rose to 924 in October from 907 in September.
“We are looking into the reasons behind this inexplicable dip and rise in the SRB of some districts within a month,” an official quoted above said.
According to Dr Gupta, the key to overcome the challenges lies in sensitising people and nabbing the culprits. “Multi-pronged awareness drives are underway involving sarpanches, schools, and doctors. We are focusing on community engagement, stricter enforcement against gender-based discrimination, and increased surveillance,” said Dr Gupta.
Decline in FIRs
As per the official data, this year, the lowest 33 FIRs were registered after successful raids conducted to nab those involved in gender determination tests. In sharp contrast, last year 85 FIRs were registered under the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (PC-PNDT) and medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) Acts.
There has been a sharp decline in the number of raids and cases registered this year. That touts had a free run this year becomes evident as even during the Covid-19 pandemic years, 100 raids and cases were lodged in 2020 and 142 in 2021.
Of the total 33 FIRs registered this year so far, six cases were lodged in January, five in March, four each in February, April and June, three in May, two in August, one each in July and September.
As per the data, 127 cases were registered in 2015 under the PNDT and MTP Acts, 271 cases in 2016, 144 cases in 2017, 121 in 2018, 78 cases in 2019, 100 cases in 2020, 142 in 2021, and 105 in 2022.
“Save the girl child programme was yielding the desired results till 2022 because chief minister’s office used to monitor this programme on a weekly basis. A senior IAS officer was given the charge of this programme who used to keep all on their toes,” said an official of this flagship scheme.
“In the last two years, the CMO stopped wielding the stick. And the results are before all of us. Just 33 raids/FIRs this year is a testament to Beti Bachao programme being reduced to nobody’s baby.”