PM concerned over declining sex ratio, writes to CMs to act

New Delhi, Sep 1: Viewing with serious concern the declining sex ratio, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to all Chief Ministers asking them act in a swift and concerted manner to check pre-natal sex determination which continues to be a "challenge" in most places.

Singh has asked the Chief Ministers to provide personal leadership as he laid emphasis on spreading awareness on the issue by involving civil society, including religious and community leaders, besides political representatives as part of "policy and programmatic action" to end discrimination against females.

The child sex ratio, measured as the number of girls between the ages of 0 and 6 years to 1000 boys in the same age group, has declined from 927 to 914 in 2011 as per the provisional census 2011 data, he pointed out in his letter.

"This is a matter of serious concern and it is with great anguish that I write to you on this very important subject," the identical letters said asking the CMs to respond.

"The disaggregated data for states and UTs reveal a picture that is even more alarming than the average child sex ratio for the country," Singh said while highlighting the data of individual states.

Asserting that discrimination and social prejudice against women needed to be tackled at all stages, he said "we need strong action against pre-birth sex selection using modern diagnostic technologies and neglect of the girl child once she is born." Noting that implementation of law on pre-natal sex determination "continues to be a challenge in most areas", he said "the need of the hour is to strengthen monitoring and inspection mechanisms for strict and effective implementation of the law by states and UTs."

PTI