Haryana meets 2020 sex-ratio target in pandemic year: Data

Haryana managed to largely meet its sex-ratio at birth (SRB) targets in 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic posing challenges to the government’s flagship programmes to encourage women’s education and stop female foeticide, showed official data released on Tuesday.

Data showed that SRB, a critical indicator of gender equality, stood at 922 female births per 1,000 males in 2020, only slightly lower than 923 registered in 2019, which was also the highest figure recorded in a decade.

SRB numbers have steadily improved in the state, from 833 in 2011 to 876 in 2015, 900 in 2016, 914 in 2017 and 923 in 2019. A total 537,996 births were registered in 2020 which included 279,869 male births and 258,127 female births.

Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who monitors the government’s flagship Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme, said Haryana registering 922 SRB was an outstanding achievement in view of the limitations Covid-19 had posed.

He also set the set a target of 935+ SRB in 2021.

According to Rakesh Gupta, nodal officer of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, government teams cracked down hard on the touts offering sex-selection facilities.

“The state government started an informer incentive scheme wherein a reward of one lakh was given to the informer providing information about the sex determination in any part of the state, which helped in exposing the gangs of criminals involved in this crime,” Gupta said. As many as 100 FIRs were registered in 2020 as compared to 77 during 2019.

Sirsa district led the state with an SRB of 949, while Karnal slipped to 900. In 2019 Sirsa’s SRB was 920 and that of Karnal was 908.

In 2020, Panchkula and Nuh were tied at the second spot with an SRB of 939, Kurukshetra and Fatehabad both recorded 938, Panipat 935, Sonepat 932, Ambala 931, Yamunanagar 928, Kaithal and Hisar 922, Gurugram and Rewari 921, Bhiwani 920, Faridabad 915, Rohtak 912, Palwal 910, Jind 904, Mahendragarh 902, Karnal 900, Jhajjar 892 and Charkhi Dadri 891.

At least 10 districts such as Sirsa, Nuh, Kurukshetra, Fatehabad, Sonepat, Kaithal, Gurugram, Rewari, Bhiwani, and Rohtak improved their SRB in comparison to 2019. The SRB of rest of the districts decreased.