Gender ratio worsens in 5 Haryana districts :

1. Sirsa and Bhiwani are among the five districts in the state that witnessed a negative growth in the child sex ratio in the last one year. However, the state on the whole saw a 10 point increase (910 to 920 girls per 1,000 boys) with a positive growth in 15 districts. Yamunanagar showed no change from the previous year figures.

2. According to official sources, the civil registration system data showed that Sirsa, Bhiwani, Kaithal, Karnal and Sonepat districts recorded a decline in the gender ratio at birth over a year till October 2019 as compared to the corresponding period in 2017-18.

3. Sirsa lost the maximum points (34) and came down to 904 girls per 1,000 boys. Its ratio was 938:1,000 in October 2018. Bhiwani too witnessed a decline as the ratio slipped to 894 girls per 1,000 boys – a slide of 20 points in one year.

4. Kaithal, Karnal and Sonepat districts too have recorded a slide by 17, 11 and 6 points, respectively. However, there is something to be upbeat about too as several districts, including Jhajjar and Mahendragarh, which had earned notoriety of having the worst child sex ratio not only in Haryana but in the country a few years ago, have improved the gender ratio.

5. Leading the points tally, Panchkula improved by 53 points, putting the ratio to 970 girls per 1,000 boys. Ambala (951 girls) comes second while Jhajjar district showed a remarkable increase of 46 points with 908:1,000 ratio. Panipat, Fatehabad, Mahendragarh districts.

About Haryana Sex Ratio :

Haryana has historically had one of the lowest sex ratios in the country--it had 833 girls for 1,000 boys at birth in 2011, according to the government’s Civil Registration System (CRS) data. However, for close to a decade now, the state has shown a steady improvement in its sex ratio at birth, and reported 920 girls for 1,000 boys in August 2019, as per state-level CRS data shared with India Spend. Haryana’s skewed sex ratio has led to villages with few female children, brides being bought for money as there are too few women for men to marry, and forced marriages with women outside the state, The Guardian reported in March 2018. A healthy sex ratio at birth is 952 girls for every 1,000 boys, according to the World Health Organization.

Haryana’s achievement seems remarkable in itself, as well as in comparison to India’s--the country’s sex ratio at birth declined from 909 girls per 1,000 boys in 2011 to 877 girls per 1,000 boys in 2016, according to the latest publicly available CRS data. Haryana improved its sex ratio at birth through punitive action for sex-selective abortion, counselling of parents and families, tracking pregnancies and through campaigns to change people’s perception about girls, officials said. At the same time, data on the sex ratio are not entirely reliable, with two government reports showing different sex ratios in the state.