13-point improvement in sex ratio at birth in last five years — Irani

New Delhi, Sep. 6 (PTI): There has been a 13-point improvement in the sex ratio from 918 in 2014-15 to 931 in 2018-19 and the states should aim to double it in the coming years, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said on Friday.

Urging states to engage in convergent practices, Irani gave the example of Rajasthan’s Nagaur district, where a campaign called “coffee with collector” has been launched under which the district collector holds conversation with villagers on improving sex ratio at birth.

“Since the launch of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, central and state governments with Janbhagidari have consistently strived to ensure the potential of our daughters is celebrated. These efforts have led to national improvement of 13 points in sex ratio at birth,” Irani said at a function to felicitate states and districts for improving sex ratio.

She said the states should try to double the improvement in sex ratio at birth in the coming years.

Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were felicitated for improvement in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB).

Ten districts selected for improvement in SRB were also felicitated during the function.

They are: East Kameng (Arunachal Pradesh), Mahendragarh and Bhiwani (Haryana), Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Namakkal (Tamil Nadu), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Etawah (Uttar Pradesh), Raigarh (Chhattisgarh), Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), and Jodhpur (Rajasthan).

In addition, ten districts selected for good work in generating awareness and outreach activities under BBBP were also felicitated by the minister. These districts are: Tiruvallur (Tamil Nadu), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh) Kishtwar (J&K), Gadag (Karnataka), Wokha (Nagaland), Farrukhabad (Uttar Pradesh), and Nagaur (Rajasthan).

Irani made a special mention of Kameng district, which has registered a sharp improvement in SRB from 807 in 2014-15 to 1,039 in 2018-19. She said this makes it clear that nothing is impossible if the government and society collectively resolve to achieve a target.

Minister of State of WCD, Debasree Chaudhuri, in her address, stressed on the need for more concrete steps to further improve the skewed child sex ratio.

She said that the success of BBBP scheme largely depends on the committed participation of state governments, district administrations and the active support of community members.

She appealed to every citizen to become a part of the social change programme of BBBP to end discrimination against the girl child and strive harder to create a girl child-friendly environment.

Dinesh Yadav, Nagaur district magistrate, elaborating on the improvement of sex ratio from 917 in 2011 to 965 in 2019, said it was often seen that only men came to hold conversations on the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme.

“We thought there is a need to involve women of the district to spread awareness and we started the ‘coffee with collector’ campaign,” he said.

The BBBP scheme was launched on January 22, 2015. It is being implemented in 640 districts and all districts are covered through advocacy and media campaign.

Out of these districts, 405 are covered under multi-sectoral intervention in which 100 per cent Centrally sponsored scheme grant is provided directly to the district magistrate/district collector for BBBP.