Three Haryana officials face suspension for fudging state’s sex ratio figures

“The Palwal MC officials were responsible for fudging the figures in Palwal, while the officers posted at state headquarter of health department were responsible for the Narnaul episode,” said a police officer.

An inquiry by the Haryana government has found that the sex ratio at birth (SRB) figures for two districts — Narnaul and Palwal — were fudged by the officials in March this year. Initially, the state sex ratio at birth for March this year was stated to be 950, but after detection of lapses in two districts, the figure has been revised to 930 for the month. The latest consolidated figures of sex ratio at birth for eight months (till August this year) stands at 909.

The government has decided to suspend three officials, including the then Deputy Director (birth and death) of state health department. Two other officials are posted in Municipal Committee, Palwal. They are — Registrar (birth and death) Mahender Singh and Sub Registrar Sandeep Kumar.

“The Chief Minister has ordered their suspension. Now, the health department will find out the Deputy Director, who was handling birth and death record wing in April when the sex ratio figures were prepared,” said a senior officer while speaking to The Indian Express on Tuesday. The formal suspension orders are likely to be issued soon.

“The Palwal MC officials were responsible for fudging the figures in Palwal, while the officers posted at state headquarter of health department were responsible for the Narnaul episode,” added the officer.

Sex ratio at birth till March this year was shown as high as 1383 by the Municipal Committee, Palwal whereas it was actually 906 for the period of three months, found an inquiry conduced by the health officials. The sex ratio for only one month (March) was shown as 1217, but it was actually 983 in Palwal district.

The government has found that “the gross error was result of utmost negligence, carelessness and casual approach” of the office of the Registrar (birth and death), Palwal MC. “The Municipal Committee was responsible for reporting wrong sex ratio which resulted to “unnecessary controversy”. A team from the headquarter was sent to Palwal for validation of sex ratio data.

Health Minister Anil Vij in May had ordered a probe into the reported manipulation of figures of the child sex ratio in some districts of Haryana.
However, the government says that the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign launched in 2015 has borne good results in the improvement of the sex ratio. The sex ratio at birth in the state was just 868 in 2013 which reached to 871 next year.

“The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign was effectively launched in May 2015 and by the end of 2015 the sex ratio had gone up to 876. In 2016, it touched the mark of 900, while it’s 909 for first eight months of this year,” said Rakesh Gupta, Additional Principal Secretary to the CM.

“There was improvement of 24 points in the figure of sex ratio at birth in just one year from 2015 to 2016. Since May 2015, as many as 500 FIRs have been lodged in connection with violations of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act after Pregnancy (MTP) Act after action, including raids by the Haryana officers. Out of these FIRs, as many as 100 belong to the offences which took place in neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi,” he added.