Girl power is on the rise in Maharashtra. The state government's birth registration figures reveal that more girls were born in 2017 compared with the two previous years. This is the second highest sex ratio since 2013.
In 2016, the sex ratio at birth in the state was 904 girls per 1,000 boys, which improved to 913 for newborns in 2017. This is the highest in three years – the figure for 2015 was 907, down from 914 in 2014. This sex ratio based on registered births was 900 five years ago.
"The civil registration system's provisional figures show an upward trend for the sex ratio in 2017," said a senior health department official. The report is based on the Civil Registration System (CRS) which records births and deaths under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969.
"The figures suggest that the sex ratio has improved in districts like Wardha, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nanded and Jalna, while it has declined in Jalgaon, Yavatmal and Hingoli," the official explained. In Mumbai, the child sex ratio has shown a rise since 2013, when it was 930, to 937 in 2016 and 938 in 2017.
The highest increase in the birth of girls has been observed in Wardha where the ratio has surged by 243 points from 933 in 2016 to 1,176 in 2017, followed by Pune (63 points) from 845 to 908, Gadchiroli (55 points) from 945 to 1,000 and Buldhana (40 points) up from 877 to 917.
However, the fall is visible in districts like Hingoli (92 points) where the sex ratio at birth is down from 919 to 827, Jalgaon (58 points from 922 in 2016 to 864 in 2017) and Bhandara, which saw a decline of 38 points from 956 to 918.
In districts like Mumbai (937 in 2016 and 938 in 2017), Aurangabad (898 and 899), the rise has been marginal between 2016 and 2017, while the fall has been similarly minimal in Ratnagiri (927 and 926) and Solapur (883 and 882).
"Considering the median population and its growth, we expect around 19 lakh births to be registered annually. Last year, we had about 18 lakh registered births translating into an over 90% reporting efficiency," the official said.
Activist Varsha Deshpande of the Lek Ladki Abhiyaan said a "positive, reverse trend" had started though there was no indication that sex determination and female foeticide had completely stopped.
"This reverse trend can be attributed to a deterrent effect due to the fear of the law and the media's focus. Charges for sex determination of the foetus are in the range of Rs 30,000 to Rs 70,000, up from around Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 earlier. The number of commission agents in the chain has also multiplied," she explained.
However, an official noted that while reporting efficiency for births was good in urban areas, it needed to improve in rural and tribal belts. "Hence, these figures cannot be considered to be completely sacrosanct," he noted.
According to Census reports, Maharashtra's general sex ratio declined from 934 in 1991 to 922 in 2001, but marginally rose to 929 in 2011. In contrast, India's sex ratio increased from 927 in 1991 to 933 in 2011 and 940 in 2011. The Child Sex Ratio (CSR) (ratio of girls to boys between zero to six) fell from 946 in 1991 to 913 in 2001 and 894 in 2011, as against India's 946 in 1991, 927 in 2001 and 919 in 2011.
The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 (PCPNDT) aims at preventing misuse of pre-natal sex determination techniques for gender determination and female foeticide.
Maharashtra's sex ratio based on registered births:
2013: 900
2014: 914
2015: 907
2016: 904
2017: 913
