Infamous for skewed sex ratio, Haryana has recorded sex ratio at 900 in the year 2016—the first time since the year 2001 that it reached 900 mark.
As per the Government’s statistics, out of 5,25,278 children born in the State from January to December 2016,there were 2,76,414 boys and 2,48,864 girls resulting in the sex ratio at birth touching the mark of 900.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Thursday said that the State, for the first time since 2001, has achieved sex ratio of 900 girls as against 1000 boys in the year 2016, as per the CRS system of registration of births in the State.
“This is in much contrast to the statistics of the year 2011 when the State had the worst sex ratio of 834 among all States in the country as per census 2011,” he said.
Due to its worst sex ratio in census 2011, the State was chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch the nationwide ambitious ‘BBBP’ in 2015.
The Chief Minister said that the State Government has been making concerted efforts to improve the sex ratio, and now it has taken a leap forward by achieving marked improvement in the sex ratio at birth (SRB).
None of the districts has recorded sex ratio below 850 mark and 12 districts in the state has recorded sex ratio of 900 or 900 plus in the year 2016, he added.
As many as 15 districts had SRB of more than 900 during December 2016. The district Sirsa with a ratio of 935 girls for 1000 boys tops the list followed by Panchkula with 923 and Fatehbad with 918. Mohindergarh Rewari, Sonipat and Jhajjar districts having child sex ratio below 800 mark, as per 2011 census, have shown marked improvement and now none of these has SRB below 850, as per the official statistics.
The SRB of Rewari, Rohtak and Jind districts increased by more than 40 points from year 2015 to 2016 and 16 districts had an increase of 20 or 20 plus points. District Sirsa consistently topped the districts in SRB during 2015 as well as 2016 with SRB of 915 and 935 respectively, stated the data.
Earlier in 2015, the state had recorded sex ratio at 903 in the month of December— the first time in a decade that it had crossed 900 in Haryana.
The Chief Minister said that the state had launched a massive drive against sex selection, selective abortion and female foeticide after the launch of BBBP and extensive interventions by way of enforcement of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was undertaken to nail the culprits engaged in this illegal practice in the state leading to skewed sex ratio.