Alarmed over Haryana’s mid-year sex ratio at birth (SRB) dipping by 11 points in six months, the woman and child development department took up the hot-button matter with the deputy commissioners on Friday and apprised the district authorities about the “serious concern of the state government”.

The January to June cumulative SRB of Haryana has come down to 906 female births per 1,000 males from 917 in December 2022. The 906 SRB recorded till June has registered a 10-point fall in comparison to the same period in 2022 when it stood at 916. This is the lowest half-yearly SRB since 2016 when it was 891 (in the same period).

This dip in the mid-year SRB numbers is contrary to previous years’ trends when during the same period, the figures had improved from 870 in 2015 to 891 in 2016, 910 in 2017, 916 in 2018, 918 in 2019, 917 in 2020, and 911 in 2021.

A day after HT highlighted this alarming dip in SRB (”Sex ratio at birth slips to six-year low in Haryana; After showing steady improvement, sex ratio begins to worsen again in Haryana”: July 20), Monica Malik, director, woman and child development (WCD) department in Haryana held a virtual meeting on July 21. Present in this video conferencing were all district officers, including deputy commissioners; superintendents of police; chief medical officers; district attorneys; district programme officers; PNDT nodal officers, and drugs control officers of the state.

“The meeting focused on a critical issue, the fall in sex ratio at birth in the state of Haryana, as revealed in the recently analysed half-yearly CRS (civil registration system) data,” an official spokesperson said.

Expressing her “deep concern”, WCD director Malik urged the district officers to take “proactive and effective” measures to promote the Save the Girl Child programme and “combat the heinous menace of female foeticide”.

“We are very concerned about this issue and we will make efforts to improve the SRB. Attitudinal change in the society is imperative and improving SRB is a collective effort. Lots of good work has been done and we will continuously focus on this,” Malik told HT over phone.

Emphasising the significance of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched from Haryana in January 2015, Malik said after this flagship programme was launched and due to the state’s efforts, the SRB had improved by approximately 50 points until 2022.

“This achievement is a matter of great pride for the state as it demonstrates its unwavering commitment to the empowerment and upliftment of the girl child,” she said.

“However, the latest CRS figures until June 2023 have raised alarm as the sex ratio of the state has declined from 917 in 2022 to 906, witnessing an 11-point downturn in just six months.”

The WCD director expressed “serious concern of the state government about this regression.” The WCD identified districts such as Rohtak, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram, Kaithal, Karnal, Bhiwani, Mewat, Panchkula, Mahendergarh and Palwal, where the half-yearly sex ratio has shown a drastic decline.

During the meeting, Malik also highlighted several essential girl child welfare schemes of the government that have been instrumental in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the girl child.

The WCD department stressed the need for stringent action against those involved in the heinous act of killing female children in the womb and applauded the efforts of districts such as Jind, Rewari, Kurukshetra, and Jhajjar which exhibited improvements in the SRB.

Raj Bala Kataria, joint director (WCD), advocated the launch of innovative schemes to reinforce the government’s flagship Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme, encouraging a seamless flow of information among all stakeholders through coordinated efforts.

Kataria emphasised the timely uploading of all birth events for mandatory registration for better policy formulation and decision-making.

According to the civil registration system data up to June 2023, of 22 districts, the SRB of eight districts, including seven districts of the National Capital Region (NCR) were below 900. The data indicates that January to June SRB of 10 districts (Jind, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Ambala, Jhajjar, Panchkula, Faridabad, Mahendergarh) improved in comparison to same months last year. And, the SRB of 12 districts (Sirsa, Fatehabad, Nuh, Palwal, Hisar, Bhiwani, Kaithal, Sonepat, Gurugram, Rohtak, Karnal, Charkhi Dadri) went down drastically in comparison to the corresponding months last year.