: Haryana has recorded 917 female births per 1,000 males in 2022, registering three points jump over 2021 when the Manohar Lal Khattar government’s showpiece ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme suffered setbacks, according to official data.
The latest three points improvement in the annual Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) is vital in the backdrop of Haryana recording an eight-point dip in the SRB in 2021.
The SRB is a critical indicator of gender equality and it was for the first time since 2015 that the SRB of the state had slipped by eight points and stopped at 914 female births per 1,000 males in 2021 even as the SRB was 922 in 2020.
The SRB had risen to 923 in 2019, the highest not only in the past decade but also after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme from Panipat in January 2015 to check the imbalance in the sex ratio, especially of Haryana which had become notorious for killing girls in the womb.
As per the 2022 SRB data that health department approved on Friday, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Kurukshetra, Faridabad and Rewari were the worst performing districts with their SRB slipping below 900.
{{/usCountry}}As per the 2022 SRB data that health department approved on Friday, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Kurukshetra, Faridabad and Rewari were the worst performing districts with their SRB slipping below 900.
{{/usCountry}}In comparison to 2021, the SRB of Hisar dipped by 21 points, Kurukshetra suffered 28 points loss and Faridabad of 11 points, while Rewari at the bottom with annual 883 SRB recorded 20 points dip in the SRB compared to 2021.
From 912 in 2021, the Karnal district’s SRB came down to 903 in 2022-- a dip of nine points.
“We are continuously monitoring districts which are slipping...deputy commissioners have been asked to monitor town as well as primary health centre wise data and step up vigil/raids regarding illegal PNDT activities,” said Dr Amit Kumar Agrawal, additional principal secretary (to CM) and nodal officer ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’.
“There is a definite improvement in the annual SRB and we are also stepping up activities to change the thought process of the population at large,” Agrawal said.
Despite the blows suffered in 2021, the indications of the SRB improving in 2022 had started appearing early with the SRB increasing to 920 till May in comparison to 912 during the same period in 2021.
As per the data, the annual SRB of the state was 833 in 2011, and 832 in 2012. It was 868 in 2013, 871 in 2014, and 876 in 2015. It further improved to 900 in 2016 and after remaining static at 914 in 2017 and 2018, it jumped to 923 in 2019. In 2020, the SRB stood at 922 and came down to 914 in 2021, suffering the biggest eight point dip that had raised doubts if the flagship programme was on track at all.
Experts worried
Experts spearheading this programme said drastic measures are needed to arrest the decline of SRB in four worst performing districts.
The data showed that current SRB of Rewari at 883 is lower than 2017 (893) for the first time in past six years. The SRB of Kurukshetra (893) has dipped for the first time after it jumped from 859 in 2016 to 924 in 2017 and kept improving.
Similarly, said the experts of the programme, the latest SRB (904) of Hisar has come as a bolt from the blue keeping in view the fact that SRB of this district since 2016 had increased from 913 to 932 in 2019 and 925 in 2021.
“Something is seriously amiss in the four worst performing districts. The drastic dip in the SRB of Hisar, Rewari, Kurukshetra and Faridabad is a matter of concern. Had these districts done well, the cumulative SRB of Haryana would have gone past 920,” said a key functionary of save the girl child programme.
Haryana registered total 5,31,203 births in 2022 which included 2,77,055 male births and 2,54,148 female births, a decline of 3,236 births in comparison to 2021.
Fatehabad district led the state with an SRB of 950 and Karnal (903), the home district of chief minister Khattar, slipped to the 17 position in the state. Jind stood second with 942 SRB, followed by Panchkula (938), Nuh (936), Ambala and Rohtak (934), Charkhi Dadri (933), Sirsa (929), Gurugram (925), Panipat (924), Yamunanagar (923), Palwal (922), Kaithal (921), Bhiwani (912), and Mahendergarh (907).
Inter-state raids
Senior health department officials said in 2022, at least 105 cases were registered following successful raids, including inter-state, conducted to nab the touts offering sex determination tests. Since 2015, as many as 1085 FIRs have been lodged after successful raids.
Among the 105 first information reports (FIRs) registered last year were 74 FIRs under the PNDT (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) and 31 under the MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) Acts.
Dr Manoj Tyagi, deputy director (PNDT) Haryana, said the biggest challenge before the health authorities of Haryana is that 20 of the 22 districts are bordering other states where gender identification menace is rampant.
“Because of the pressure we have been mounting on the touts, our people are going out of the state for sex determination tests,” Dr Tyagi said, pointing out that among the large number of inter-state raids Haryana conducted pertained to UP.
“In UP, touts roam with portable machines. We have been conducting raids in other states, but no neighbouring state has ever conducted a raid in Haryana that proves the extent of pressure we have been maintaining on the touts offering sex determination facilities... Nonetheless, we will have to remain vigilant and our objective this year is to surpass previous SRB records,” said Dr Tyagi.