As sex ratio at birth falls, Haryana wields the stick

Hisar district nodal officer of PNDT suspended, 12 SMOs slapped show-cause notices

- HT Correspondent

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana health department on Thursday suspended Hisar district nodal officer of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (PNDT), slapped show-cause notices on 12 senior medical officers (SMOs) and decided to chargesheet three SMOs who are in-charge of community health centres (CHCs) with the lowest sex ratio at birth (SRB) in the state.

The health department has also booted out the PNDT nodal officers of Charkhi Dadri, Rewari, Rohtak, Gurugram and Faridabad, the districts with the lowest sex ratio at birth in the state.

The crackdown comes in the wake of alarming dip in Haryana's sex ratio at birth (SRB), which was recorded 910 female births per 1,000 males in 2024—a six-point drop from 916 in 2023.

The cumulative SRB of Haryana in 2015 was 876 and 900 in 2016. It was recorded 914 in 2017, 2018 and 2021. The highest SRB so far 923 was recorded in 2019, while 922 in 2020. It had dropped to 917 in 2022 and 916 in 2023.

Alarmed by its "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" flagship programme taking a severe hit and Haryana's sex ratio at birth (SRB) plunging to its lowest in eight years in 2024, the Nayab Singh Saini-led government in January 2024 had identified "lack of enforcement" in several districts as a major "obstruction" in saving the girl child.