UP not doing enough to stop gender tests: Khattar to Yogi

UP officers appointed under PC-PNDTA not showing interest in duties, Haryana CM informs counterpart

CHANDIGARH : Rampant gender determination screening in Uttar Pradesh has set alarm bells ringing in Haryana with chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar telling his counterpart Yogi Adityanath that its administration was not doing enough to check the illegal practice even as teams from Haryana were making interstate raids.

Since January 22, 2015, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign from Panipat, Haryana has successfully carried out 109 raids in 14 districts of UP and registered around 100 cases against UP residents after busting sex determination rackets involving touts targeting pregnant women from Haryana.

In 2020, notwithstanding the pandemic, teams hand-picked by the Haryana health department, lodged around 100 FIRs under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) and Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Acts, of which approximately 40 cases were inter-state — 22 in UP and 11 in Ghaziabad.

“It was against this backdrop that Khattar wrote a two-page letter in immaculate Hindi to

Adityanath informing him that UP officers appointed under the PC-PNDT Act were not showing much interest in their duties,” a government official privy to the correspondence said, on condition of anonymity.

In the letter, penned on February 9, to which HT has access, Khattar said, “The teams of my state have conducted over 100 inter-state raids in UP and registered cases but UP has not conducted a single raid either in Haryana or in any other neighbouring states. This is a matter of concern for Haryana.”

“During these raids,” Khattar said, “there were instances when Haryana teams were confronted with lack of coordination from UP officials. It would be commendable if UP’s PC-PNDT teams increased surveillance activities and started conducting inter-state raids not only in Haryana but also in other neighbouring states in order to bust sex selection rackets.”

“Both states must make joint efforts, especially in bordering districts, to stop this heinous crime of female foeticide. These steps will benefit both the states with far-reaching positive results,” reads the letter.

‘Ghaziabad hub of sex determination, illegal abortions’

As per the data shared with UP, Haryana had conducted 26 raids and lodged as many FIRs in UP’s Ghaziabad district, which prompted Khattar to describe the district as an emerging ‘hub of sex determination and illegal abortions’ in the National Capital Region (NCR).

A team from Haryana conducted one such raid in Ghaziabad on Monday, in which two people were arrested after recovering three foetuses and a portable ultrasound machine from a prominent nursing home.

Another major hotspot is Saharanpur where Haryana has conducted 26 raids, followed by Meerut (14), Shamli (9), Noida (6), Bagpat (5), Aligarh, Bulandshahar and Bijnore (4 each), Mathura (3), Muzaffarnagar, Amroh and Agra (2 each) and Sambhal (1). “Barring four districts, pregnant women from 18 Haryana districts visit UP for carrying out sex determination tests. This indicates UP has become a safe haven for those seeking boys,” an expert involved in the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign said, requesting anonymity.

Improved sex ratio

Haryana has registered 922 female births per 1,000 males in 2020. Khattar’s letter traces the steps taken by his government to improve the sex ratio at birth (SRB), which has improved by 51 points since 2014.

In 2019, Haryana’s annual SRB was 923, the highest so far. While the annual SRB of the state in 2011 was 833, it rose to 876 in 2015, and further improved to 900 in 2016. The annual SRB remained static at 914 in 2017 and 2018, and jumped to 923 in 2019.

“In the last six years, Haryana has saved the lives of around 30,000 girls,” Khattar said.

Offering to help replicate Haryana’s successful ‘save the girl child’ programme in UP, Khattar told Adityanath, “I request you to issue directions to deputy commissioners and health department officials to extend active support to Haryana teams during inter-state raids in UP.”