Panipat loses top spot in sex ratio at birth

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, July 9

The district has failed to maintain its top position in terms of sex ratio at birth (SRB), slipping to 13th spot.

In the first six months of this year, the SRB varied between 848 and 945 girls against 1,000 boys, whereas throughout last year, the figure was never below 900.

The district was notorious for skewed sex ratio, which was below 900 before 2015. The turnaround came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme in Panipat on January 22, 2015.

After one year of the programme, the SRB was recorded at 892. But in the next year, it improved considerably to 912. And in 2017, the district notched the top spot in the state with 945 girls against 1,000 boys.

But this year, the district not only lost the top spot, but also failed to make it to the top 10 districts in the state.

In January, the district’s SRB was recorded at 848. The figure was 945 in February, 885 in March, 901 in April, 917 in May and 850 in June.

Dr SL Verma, Civil Surgeon, said it was unfortunate that the district had lost the top ranking. “The district had topped the state in 2017 on the back of Health Department’s hard work. The reasons for the downfall have been identified. The PNDT team has been changed. Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Munesh Goyal has been appointed the nodal officer of the PNDT campaign,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria said, “I have held meeting with members of social organisations, anganwari workers and health officials to gear up and improve the district’s ranking.”