DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

From January 1 to July 31 this year, Haryana's gender ratio improved to 907, up from 899 during the corresponding period last year. This fact came to light on Tuesday at the weekly meeting of the State Task Force (STF) for Improving Sex Ratio held under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary (Health), Sudhir Rajpal here.

The meeting focussed on intensifying efforts to curb illegal abortions and further improve the state's sex ratio under the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign. The Additional Chief Secretary emphasised the need for stringent enforcement against illegal abortions, instructing officials to take punitive measures, including revoking the licences of doctors found complicit in female foeticide.

He said the government is implementing reverse tracking of all Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) and abortion cases beyond 12 weeks, particularly where women already have one or more daughters.

In July alone, 32 First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered in reverse tracking cases, leading to 32 arrests.

Additionally, FIRs are under process in four more cases, and 38 notices have been issued to private hospitals and clinics for suspected violations, an official statement said.

In a unique and inclusive initiative, the Additional Chief Secretary directed that the transgender community be actively involved in celebrating the birth of girls.

As part of this effort, members of the transgender community will visit the homes where a girl child is born, just as they traditionally do when a boy takes birth, and present a certificate of Rs 21,000 invested with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) under the 'Aapki Beti Hamari Beti' scheme to the family of the girl child. For this, the government will also incentivise the transgender community and a minimum amount of Rs 1,100 is proposed to be given to such transgenders.

The entire campaign shall be run under the supervision of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the district.

The Additional Chief Secretary also ordered a crackdown against IVF centres involved in sex-determination tests and illegal abortions.

It was decided that all implantations through the IVF must be registered under antenatal care for improved surveillance.

(editor@dailyworld.in)