Thursday, January 5, 2017

Haryana achieves sex ratio of 900 girls as against 1000 boys

CHANDIGARH, JAN 5
Haryana State has, for the first time since 2001, 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 834:1000 among all States in the country as per census 2011.
The Haryana Chief Minister Mr Manohar Lal said that the State Government had 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). According to the statistics available for sex ratio, he said that 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 and the sex ratio at birth touched the mark of 900.
He said that none of the districts is below 850 mark and 12 districts in the state have recorded sex ratio of 900 or 900 plus in the year 2016. As many as 15 districts had SRB of more than 900 during December 2016. 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 many as 19 districts have shown marked increase in the SRB since the launch of Beti Bachao,Beti Padhao (BBBP) programme in the State. 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.
He said that the State had launched a massive drive against sex selection, selective abortion and female foeticide after the launch of BBBP by the Prime Minister from Panipat in Jauary 2015, wherein 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. During this campaign inter-district as well as inter-state raids were planned and executed with the help of the concerned authorities of the neighbouring States to nab the offenders engaged in cross border sex determination followed by female foeticide. About 400 FIRs were registered under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Acts against the offenders after successful raids, including 75 raids conducted across the border in adjoining States. He said that the State has lodged 75 cross border FIRs including Delhi - 17, Punjab – 15, Uttar Pradesh -37 and Rajasthan-6.These raids have highlighted the need for coordinated efforts amongst neighboring states to effectively tackle this menace.
More than 40 cases of sex selection drugs found being sold or supplied for male child in various districts were detected and offenders were booked under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, for their unethical and illegal practice.
He said that sex ratio at birth is an indicator of the development of society in terms of how it treats its women.The strong preference for sons and increasing availability of ultrasound machines has been linked to declining sex ratio in the country. Apart from qualified radiologists and doctors, the unholy nexus in the state was being run through quacks, untrained health workers, laboratory or x-ray technicians or Operation Theatre assistants. The use of portable, affordable, handy ultrasound machines by these quacks or untrained paramedics for sex detection purposes was found rampant during the raids in various parts of theState as well as in interstate raids. There are instances of unqualified personnel without ultrasound machines befooling the pregnant women and their families by performing sex detection using jelly and rubbing objects like mobile phones posing as ultrasound probes.
During January 2016 edition of ‘MAN KI BAT’, the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi appreciated the efforts being made by the state government to save the girl child. He remarked that his strategy of launching Beti Bachao,Beti Padhao campaign from Haryana has been successful with Haryana showing the path in fight against female foeticide. Haryana has shown the way to make a turnaround in improving sex ratio which needs to be replicated in rest of the country, he added.
===balbirsingh227@gmail.com

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