Child Sex Ratio set to fall to a little over 800 girls per 1,000 boys in U'khand: Study

New Delhi, Aug. 22 (ANI): A study conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India has found that child sex ratio i.e. number of girls per 1000 boys is all set to fall drastically to a little over 800 by 2021 census. The report "The State of Female Foeticide in Uttarakhand" has been presented by the Asian Centre for Human Rights. The sex ratio at birth (SRB) as per the Asian Centre for Human Rights was 861 in 2011-2012 and 867 during 2012-2013 respectively in Uttarakhand. If under-five mortality rate (U5MR) of 48 deaths per 1,000 births in India is taken into account in the context of Uttarakhand, the child sex ratio in the state would have reduced to 813 in 2011-2012 and 819 in 2012-2013. Uttarakhand has the seventh lowest child sex ratio (CSR) in the age group of 0-6 years among 35 States/UTs of India as per the 2011 census with CSR of 890 girls per thousand boys. As per the statement of Health Minister J.P. Nadda before the Parliament on March 3, 2015, not a single conviction was secured during 2009 to December 2014 under the pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT Act), 1994 in Uttarakhand. On the implementation of the Nanda Devi Kanya Yojana (NDKY) launched in 2009 and renamed as Hamari Beti Hamara Abhiman (HBHA) in 2014, the report stated that the Uttarakhand Government failed to achieve its primary objectives to reduce gender imbalance in child sex ratio, prevent female foeticide and provide social and economic security to the girl child. The scheme itself is designed not to have any impact. The NDKY is extended only to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families while the Above Poverty Line (APL) families who use and can afford sex selective abortion are completely left out. Even for the BPL families, the NDKY covered only 4.97 percent of the BPL families. As per the BPL survey conducted by the Uttarakhand Government during 2011-2012, there were a total of 6,19,718 BPL families, but as per the state government's own admission, only 30,830 girls or 4.97 percent of the BPL families were given benefits under the NDKY in five years from 2009 to 2015. In terms of those born, as per the 2011 census, a total of 2,50,803 females in the age group of 0-2 years or an average of 83,601 girls are born annually in Uttarakhand. If only 30,830 beneficiaries were extended benefits under the NDKY from 2009 to 2015, it implies that 6,166 girls were given benefits annually against the birth of 83,601 girls i.e. 7.37 percent of the girls born annually. There are serious doubts whether actual beneficiaries are benefitting at all under the Nanda Devi Kanya Yojana. The utilization certificates (UCs) of the NDKY provided to the Asian Centre for Human Rights by the authorities under the Right to Information Act seem to have been prepared only to be shared under the RTI Act. Except one UC submitted by District Program Officer (DPO), Almora, all other UCs have no date, reference number and official stamp. In the absence of all these, authenticity of the UCs is highly doubtful. The ACHR has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to address the findings of the report. (ANI)