Haryana plans ‘name and shame’ policy for villages with skewed sex ratio

Alarmed by the persistently skewed sex ratio in several areas, the Haryana Health Department has identified 481 villages across the state where the gender ratio remains 700 girls or fewer per 1,000 boys. In a renewed push to address the issue, the department has decided to implement a carrot-and-stick policy that will both celebrate the birth of girls and name and shame villages that show no improvement.

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Worst-hit districts (No. of villages)

Yamunanagar 64

Ambala 60

Bhiwani 51

Panchkula 45

Kurukshetra 37

Palwal 32

Key measures introduced

- Weekly monitoring of pregnancies in identified villages

- Annual registration checks and real-time ratio tracking

- Celebratory rituals: ‘Godh Bharai’, ‘Kuan Pujan’ for girl births

- Public naming of underperforming villages at district HQs

- DCs and sarpanches tasked with awareness drives

As per data compiled by the State Task Force (STF) formed to tackle the declining sex ratio, six districts account for a major chunk of these problematic villages: Ambala (60 villages), Bhiwani (51), Palwal (32), Kurukshetra (37), Panchkula (45) and Yamunanagar (64).

On the other end, Karnal (4 villages), Nuh (7) and Hisar (8) have the fewest villages in this category.

The issue was a key agenda item at a recent STF meeting chaired by Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Sudhir Rajpal. Sources said eight Directors of the Health Department have been assigned specific districts to visit and assess on-ground realities and coordinate targeted interventions.

“They have been asked to visit the villages in the districts assigned to them,” said a source.

Furthermore, Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) have been made directly accountable for the sex ratio in their respective areas. In fact, eight SMOs have been served show-cause notices for failing to arrest the declining trend. Health officers have also been instructed to closely monitor pregnancies in these villages and will be held answerable if the ratio falls further.

“It has been decided to name and shame villages that fail to show results despite sustained efforts,” said a member of the STF. “This will include putting up names of these villages on notice boards at the district secretariat and holding panchayat-level meetings to highlight poor statistics.”

The list of affected villages has already been shared with the Deputy Commissioners and sarpanches have been asked to actively participate in awareness drives and community engagement.

The Women and Child Development Department has been tasked with organising positive reinforcement campaigns such as “godh bharai” (baby showers) and “kuan pujan” (ceremonial rituals for newborn girls) to publicly celebrate the birth of daughters.

Of the 6,849 villages, the government will now intensively monitor pregnancies in the 7% most affected areas with the goal of showing measurable improvement in the sex ratio by next year.