Why the sex ratio in Haryana dropped to an eight-year low in 2024

A setback for Haryana

Of the 516,402 children born in Haryana in 2024, 270,354 (52.35%) were boys, while 246,048 (47.64%) were girls, giving a sex ratio of 910 girls per 1,000 boys born. For a state which over the past decade has made significant improvements in this metric, this is a setback.

In 2014, the sex ratio in Haryana was just 871. This triggered a massive nationwide outcry, and set off a concerted effort by civil society organisations, the state government, and the Centre to improve the situation. In January 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his signature ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign at Panipat.

The efforts of the government and the civil society bore fruit, with the sex ratio at birth in Haryana climbing steadily after 2014. It touched 900 in 2016, and peaked at 923 in 2019. Since then, however, the sex ratio has once again seen a downward trajectory overall, with the biggest dip coming in 2024 when it fell from 916 (in 2023) to 910.

The setback comes at a time when women from the state are excelling in sports, including at international platforms, as well as in academics.

Loosening enforcement

The gains made between 2014 and 2019 came due to the strict enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PNDT Act) coupled with an intense awareness campaign. This was aimed to curb pre-natal sex selection and female foeticide, which were rampant in Haryana, while simultaneously changing social attitudes which saw families prefer boys, and look at a girl child as a burden.

Activists say more needs to be done to change attitudes, and in recent years, enforcement of laws aimed towards curbing female foeticide has loosened.

According to social activist Sunil Jaglan, the founder of the ‘Selfie With Daughter’ campaign, the rich and influential continue to avail sex determination services, and sex selective abortions, which have gotten more expensive. This is especially the case in areas bordering the neighbouring states of UP, Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Haryana government figures reveal that nearly a third of the more than 1,200 FIRs lodged under the provisions of the PNDT Act in the last ten years were registered after the inter-state raids.

Jaglan also pointed to a new phenomenon in the state, of having “only [one] boy”. “The concept of ‘only boy’ was not a popular phenomenon until now, but a section of the families have started opting for it due to the decreasing land holdings,” Jaglan said.

Shakuntala Jakhar, the Haryana state president of the All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) said that many families are choosing to have only one boy due to increasing inflation, which makes nurturing multiple children expensive. She said that the focus has to be on working towards changing attitudes. She said that the government and the society at large must discourage expensive marriages, to curb the dowry system which makes families look at girl children as a burden.

Government’s perspective

State authorities, however, term the latest dip as a “slight fluctuation”, and point to the fact that the state’s sex ratio has improved significantly over the last 10 years.

“The state’s gender ratio improved from 871 in 2014 to 916 in 2023,” Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini told the media. “Haryana is now recognised as a state that empowers daughters rather than one that suppresses them, marking a true tribute to Mata Savitribai Phule,” he said.

State officials emphasised that more than 4,000 people have been arrested, including doctors, quacks, and touts, in 1,200-plus cases filed under the PNDT Act. They said that the government has worked relentlessly to ensure that the girl child is not seen as a burden, including providing a one-time sum of Rs 21,000 at the birth of a baby girl, and opening bank accounts for girls through the Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme. They also spoke about work that has gone into reducing dropout rates of girls and increasing secondary education enrolment — all factors which are known to in the long term positively impact sex ratio, and the status of women in general

The officials said that the skewed sex ratio in Haryana is linked to the mindset of people, and that the government is making efforts to change the same.