Haryana’s sex ratio dips, experts say no need to panic

CHANDIGARH: The sex ratio at birth (SRB) of Haryana was stuck at 880 females for every 1,000 males in January 2015 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign from Panipat.

Five years later, Haryana’s SRB coincidentally rose to 939 in January 2020 — the highest-ever ratio recorded in a single month after the ‘save girl child’ campaign was launched — reveals the data of state health department.

But it came down to 914 in July, leading to speculations as well as questions if Haryana’s showpiece programme is on the track.

A key functionary behind this programme, who doesn’t want to be identified, says since the SRB fluctuates every month, the true picture emerges in December when the data of 12 months is calculated, that too after waiting for a 21-day mandatory window for registration of the births.

According to Dr PK Singh, dep

uty director, (monitoring), Haryana had from January this year made online registration of births and deaths ‘mandatory’.

Another expert of the project admitted that 914 SRB in July was on the lower side, but he said it should not set the alarm bells ringing.

“We still have five months. We have noticed in the last five years that during the second half of the year, the month-wise SRB figures improve after seeing a dip in May, June and July,” he added.

As per the data, between January and June this year, the SRB fluctuated in the range of 939 and 917. In 2019, it was 933 in January and 918 in June. But the SRB during this year’s first three months (939, 932, 926) was higher than the last year (933, 925, 923).

However, it was 924 in April 2019 and 2020, and 921 in May, one point up from last year. It was in July that the SRB figure dipped to 914 against 919 recorded in the corresponding month last year.

Haryana had hit the ‘annual’ SRB figure of 914 in 2017 and 2018, even as the per month SRB during these two years had declined to 909 on at least five instances.

According to IAS officer Dr Rakesh Gupta, nodal officer for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, the July drop in SRB should be seen in the light of variation the birth registration data shows every month.

“There is nothing to be worried about (July SRB coming down to 914). We calculate 12-month data and not six months’ figures to arrive at any conclusion,” Dr Gupta said.

In fact, experts say the analysis of past five years’ month-wise data doesn’t show any clear trend, but the evaluation of the cumulative data of 12 months clearly reflects a shift — the annual SRB of the state has been improving. For example, Haryana’s SRB in 2015 was 876 and by December 2016, it improved to 900. The annual SRB remained static at 914 in 2017 and 2018, and in 2019 it jumped to 923, giving a shot in the arm to the Khattar-led BJP government. Dr Gupta says, “This year, we are expecting the annual SRB to be around 923, same as last year.”

However, some health officers disagree, saying the state may fall short of touching the 923 figure this year. As per the 2011 census, the child sex ratio (CSR) of Haryana, (children below six years) was 834 females for every 1,000 males. The CSR of the state was 903 in 1981 when the ultrasound machines had started arriving and misuse of the technology started. “Given the improvement in SRB, I am hopeful of Haryana’s CSR reaching 903 females against 1,000 males when 2021 census data is released,” Dr Gupta said.