The deep-rooted traditional preference for the male child seems to have not undergone any change in Haryana.
Despite the State Government splurging crores of rupees for the promotion of Centre’s ambitious Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme, its impact is yet to be felt in most parts of the State.
The (BBBP) programme aimed at addressing the gender imbalance and discrimination against the girl child, has so far failed to stem the tide in Haryana, with most districts witnessing decline in sex ratio.
According to the latest data with the Haryana Health Department, Mahendergarh continued to hold to distinction of being the ‘worst’ district of Haryana recording sex ratio at birth of 735 girls per 1,000 boys while Panipat topped the charts with 941 girls per 1,000 boys.
The data suggests that many districts of Haryana have not recorded any major improvement in the child sex ratio. Infact, in most of the districts, the number of girls has gone down in the past six months.
Even as Haryana’s crusade against the menace of female foeticide is on-going, districts namely Rewari, Kaithal, Sonepat, Panchkula, Ambala, Bhiwani, Hissar, Mewat, Karnal, Gurgaon, Fatehabad have witnessed decline in child sex ratio.
As per the data, from January 2015 to July 2015, Ambala witnessed dip in sex ratio at birth from 984 in January to 842 girls per 1000 boys in July. Similarly, the districts registering plunge in sex ratio were Bhiwani (845 to 836), Fatehabad (899 to 855), Gurgaon (880 to 851), Hissar (897 to 857), Kaithal (877 to 795), Karnal (914 to 878), Mewat (974 to 858), Mahendragarh (811 to 735), Jind (923 to 916), Panchkula (892 to 830) and Panipat (952 to 941).
However, in a positive sign, some districts witnessed an improvement in the child sex ratio during the same period. Faridabad witnessed an improvement registering child sex ratio of 823 in January which jumped to 923 girls per 1000 boys in the district. In Kurukshetra, sex ratio improved from 831 to 858, Rewari (716 to 777), Sirsa (900 to 905), Sonepat (816 to 824) and Yamunanagar (850 to 864).
Overall, the sex ratio has improved from 880 in January to 867 girls per 1000 boys in July in the state.
An official in the state Health Department said that with the BBBP campaign in progress, an improvement in the sex ratio is expected by next January in the state. At present, the offences under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) are still high in Haryana.
Besides changing the mindset of people and their preference for male child in Haryana, the increasing misuse of portable ultrasound machines across the state is a major challenge to the state Health Department, added the official.
Under the BBBP initiative, Haryana Government has undertaken extensive campaign against female foeticide across all the districts as well as cross border areas in states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi by employing decoy patients in co-ordination with the respective State authorities and 75 FIRs have been registered against the violators of PC&PNDT and MTP Act in the past three months.
Till date, 16 districts of Haryana have been covered under the campaign and rest of the five districts namely Ambala, Kaithal, Karnal, Rohtak and Panchkula will be covered by September 30, according to the officials of state Health Department.
BBBP campaign was launched from Haryana’s Panipat district by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January this year to address the issues related to girl child survival, health, nutrition, education and empowerment.
Haryana has the lowest child sex ratio of 834 compared to the national average of 919 (according to census of India 2011). The State Government had in July appointed actress Parineeti Chopra as brand ambassador for the ‘BBBP’ programme to promote the cause of the girl child.
Notably, the State Government had spent whopping amount of Rs 6.89 crore for organizing the function for launching the BBBP scheme at Panipat by Prime Minister. later, the State Government had spent `66.59 lakh for organizing a mega event for promotion of BBBP scheme at Gurgaon where state ambassador for BBBP scheme ‘Parineeti Chopra’ was also invited among other dignitaries.
The Manohar lal Khattar led Haryana Government has also announced to give a reward of `1.50 lakh to the village, which would be successful in improving the skewed sex ratio and check female foeticide.