The sex ratio at birth (SRB) improved from 914 to 919 between the third and fourth National Family Health Surveys (NFHS), carried out in 2005-06 and 2015-16 respectively
The sex ratio at birth, also defined as the number of female births per 1,000 male births, saw and improvement as it stood at 919, with Kerala recording the highest number at 1047. The highest improvement was seen in Punjab at 126 points. In a first, the birth rate of girls in the state reached 918 per 1,000 boys in Haryana.
Haryana government stated that the improvement in SRB is the result of the successful implementation of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign in the state. Projects such as Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and CM Window, Social Media Grievance Tracker, Haryana Vision Zero, Antyodaya Saral Project and Saksham Haryana were also discussed.
In a meeting held under the chairmanship of Rakesh Gupta, Project Director, Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associates Programme, various schemes were discussed with the Deputy Commissioners. He also lauded the efforts of the district administrations of Panchkula, Hisar, Yamunanagar, Narnaul and Ambala. He asked the officers to scrutinize the PNDT, MTP and POCSO Act and fix the loopholes in it. The Health Department and the Women and Child Development Department have also been asked to put in an effort to further improve the sex ratio.
Notably, the SRB was at its lowest in north-eastern states such as Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam. The sharpest decline was witnessed in Sikkim where the SRB dropped 175 points to reach 809 in NFHS-4. Jharkhand also saw a decline of 172 points and the SRB stood at 919.
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