BHUBANESWAR: Alarmed by low sex ratio at birth, the Odisha government has swung into action and prepared a roadmap to arrest the declining trend and improve the situation.At a stakeholders meeting here on Tuesday, director of Family Welfare Dr Bijay Panigrahy urged the district officers to take proactive and effective measures to promote the save the girl child initiative and combat the heinous menace of female foeticide.
The child sex ratio of Odisha has been showing a declining trend since 1961. While the number of women was 1,035 against 1,000 men in 1961, it declined to 1,020 in 1971, 995 in 1981, 967 in 1991, 953 in 2001 and 941 in 2011.
Describing the causes and consequences of the low sex ratio at birth in the state, director of health services Dr Bijay Mohapatra said, attitudinal change in the society is imperative and improving the ratio is a collective effort. He stressed the need for stringent action against those involved in the heinous act of killing female children in the womb.
“The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC & PNDT) Act needs to be more stringent and punitive action must be taken,” Dr Mohapatra said. Several initiatives by the state government and the Centre, notwithstanding, the child sex ratio at birth declined from 932 in 2015-2016 to 894 in 2019-2021, as per the National Family Health Survey-5.
The report says Odisha has 894 girl children at birth for every 1,000 boys. Surprisingly, the sex ratio in educated, comparatively developed and industrialised districts like Khurda, Balasore, Puri, Angul and Jajpur is the lowest as compared to tribal districts.