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Indian government tells states to monitor sex ratio
January 28, 2005
New Delhi - Concerned by the deteriorating sex ratio in the country, the
central government Thursday asked the states to stop prenatal sex determination
and sex-related abortions aimed at preventing the birth of girls.
Inaugurating the annual conference of the chief registrars of births and
deaths, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said states should monitor the sex ratio to
stop sex determination tests and sex-related abortions.
"The deteriorating sex ratio revealed by the 2001 census is really disturbing.
From 945 girls per 1,000 boys in the age group 0-6 in 1991, the child sex ratio
declined to 927 girls per 1,000 boys in the 2001 census," Patil said.
A total of 31 states and union territories registered a decline in the child
sex ratio in the 2001 census. The number of districts where the sex ratio was
below 900 girls for every 1,000 boys increased from 69 in 1991 to 118 in 2001.
"Even after 30 years of implementing the Registration of Births and Deaths Act,
1969 (under which registration of births and deaths is compulsory) about half
of these vital events are not being registered," Patil said.
He suggested that states should hand over the work of registering births and
deaths to village councils to make it more effective, noting that the
achievements in the IT sector should be used for the purpose.
Patil assured the assistance of the central government and UNICEF to improve
the registration system to achieve 100 percent registration by 2010.
Registrar General of India D.K. Sikri admitted that only about 57 percent of
births and 51 percent of deaths were currently being registered in India.
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