Skewed child sex ratio cause for concern
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, March 6
The declining child sex ratio continues to be a worrying trend in Uttarakhand as revealed in the latest round of the National Family and Health Survey (2015-2016 NFHS-4).
In Uttarakhand, there are 888 girls (per 1,000 boys) in the age-group of 0-5 years. In the urban area, the child sex ratio was 817 girls (per 1,000 boys) and in the rural area 924 girls (per 1,000 boys).
In comparison with the NFHS 3 (2005-06) when the child sex ratio was 912 girls, the decline in the last decade has been 24 points. This means that there were fewer girls than boys in the past more than a decade.
“There is a clear indication of neglect of the girl child and preference being given to boys by families. Though there are a few diagnostic centres in the rural areas, the families have been flocking to the plains for sex-determination tests and later abortions,” said Dr DS Rawat, officiating DG (Directorate Health). Experts say efforts made by the Department of Health have been too little in this area.
“The raids by the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) cell against the clinics flouting the Act have been conducted once in a blue moon. There has not been a single arrest or conviction by the cell in all these years. The raids have been relegated to an exercise in futility. So much political pressure is exerted that doctors and the administration resist taking appropriate action,” said Dr Geeta Balodi chairperson of the Kanya Jeevan Dayini.
The trend has deteriorated to such an extent that hilly areas of the state that boosted the healthy child sex ratio in 2000 too have been posting similar trends.
In rural Tehri, the child sex ratio is the lowest in the state at 750. It is 879 per 1000 male in Bageshwar, in Dehradun (rural and urban ) child sex ratio is 832, in Rudraprayag rural 879, Uttarkashi rural 825, Nainital (urban and rural) 854, Chamoli 950, Haridwar rural and urban 921.
The NFHS-4 survey has categorised districts of Haridwar, Dehradun, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar as having both urban and rural populations. The remaining districts have been categorised as comprising rural population.
