Sex ratio at birth getting better, says Chaudhary

MINISTER SAID THE IMPROVEMENT NOTICED BETWEEN 2013-14 AND 2018-19

CHANDIGARH: Punjab social security, women and child development department minister Aruna Chaudhary lauded the efforts of the employees of her department in making the ‘ Beti Bachao- Beti Padhao’ programme a success. She added that the state had seen a continuous increase in Sex Ratio at Birth ( SRB).

Chaudhary added that the child SRB has improved by 19 points i. e. from 901/ 1,000 in 2018-19 to 920/1,000 in 2019-20 as per statistics given by the department of health and family welfare.

The improvement has been noticed from 2013-14 onwards. SRB increased to 901/1000 during 2018- 19 from 890/ 1000 in 2013- 14.

The minister added that under this scheme, numerous activities have been done to achieve good results.. These included, the Celebration of National Girl Child Day, road shows, marathons and rallies under outreach activities, celebration of Lohri, Women’s Day etc.

“We have felicitated families of girl children born between January 13, 2019 to January 7, 2021 on Lohri and such events will also be organised to celebrate the birth of girl child,” she said, adding extensive media campaigns are being undertaken at village, block and district levels in form of distribution of pamphlets, painting of wall layers etc.

During covid- 19, masks as well as sanitary napkins were widely distributed in districts. The mascot of the department, “Sukhi Bhainji, the helpful Anganwadi worker,” regularly carries online messages of good nutrition, well- being, disease prevention and child safety to stakeholders.