Odisha’s Sex Ratio at Child Birth Declines in Past 10 Years
Bhubaneswar: Odisha has shown a decline in the sex ratio at birth in the last decade. This can lead to gender imbalance in the state in future.
As per data of the Health Management Information System (HMIS) of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), at the national level, the Sex ratio at Birth (SRB) has improved from 918 in 2014-15 to 930 in 2023-24 (provisional data), informed the Union Minister of State, Women and Child Development, Savitri Thakur informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
But in Odisha, the SRB fell from 948 in 2014-15 to 926 in 2023-24, the Minister added in a written reply.
The trend hints that the would-be parents are preferring sons over daughters. It will lead to further gender imbalance in Odisha in future.
But Odisha has registered improvement in female education.
“As per the data of Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +) of Department of School Education and Literacy, Gross Enrollment ratio of girls in the schools at secondary level has increased in the state of Odisha from 75.03 percent in 2014-15 to 80.60 percent in 2021-22”, the Minister informed Rajya Sabha.
Under Mission Shakti, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme has been expanded to cover all the districts across the country for multi sectoral activities which include all the districts from Odisha, the Minister said. BBBP is a centrally sponsored scheme with 100% funding by the Central Government.
