Month after being awarded, Mahendragarh sees drop in sex ratio

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Mahendragarh, April 5

Month of receiving a special award for a significant improvement in the child sex ratio in 2015, Mahendragarh district has suffered a major setback in the first quarter of the current year with a sharp downfall in gender ratio.

The statistics for three months (January to March) of this year compiled by the district health authorities on the basis of the Civil Registration System (CRS) has witnessed the ratio of 782 girls against 1,000 boys, while it was recorded 810 last year, say the sources.

The data has left the district administration and the health authorities surprised, as the depressing trend has emerged at a time when the health officials are leaving no stone unturned to curb pre-natal sex determination tests and female foeticide in order to bring an improvement in the gender ratio.

“The latest statics of sex ratio is disappointing at a time when the state government patted our back for a considerable improvement in gender ratio. We will find out what caused it,” said a district administrative officer.

Dr Ashwani Rohila, Deputy Civil Surgeon in Narnaul, said, “The sex ratio of 782 in the first quarter of the current year is much below our expectation as we have been toiling hard to check the practice of pre-natal sex determination and female foeticide. Eight cases have been registered under the PNDT Act in the past four months.”

He said besides Mahendragarh town, Ateli, Bachhod, Simha, Nangal Sirohi, Bhojawaas, Madhogarh and Pali were the villages where gender ratio had been recorded significantly low in the past three months. Mahendragarh had the sex ratio of 738 and 810 in 2014 and 2015, respectively, he said.