The standard CSR at birth is 951 girls per 1,000 boys. With the improvement now, civic health officials are positive of achieving the standard ratio. They say that while the city has a long way to go in changing the mindset of people towards the girl child, the constant awareness drives and strict enforcement of law has contributed to the upward change in the sex ratio.
After extensive efforts to improve the falling child sex ratio (CSR) in the city, data collated by the BMC shows an upward swing in the figures; in 2014, Mumbai's CSR was 931 girls per 1,000 boys. This was a marginal improvement from 2013's statistics – 930 girls per 1,000 boys.
However, in 2011, the city's dipping CSR was in the spotlight, for the ratio stood at 917 girls per 1,000 boys. Several concerns were raised among government officials to strengthen the pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (prohibition of sex selection) act in the city and state.
The standard CSR at birth is 951 girls per 1,000 boys. With the improvement now, civic health officials are positive of achieving the standard ratio. They say that while the city has a long way to go in changing the mindset of people towards the girl child, the constant awareness drives and strict enforcement of law has contributed to the upward change in the sex ratio.
Dr Padmaja Keskar, executive health officer, BMC said: "Though the CSR of 2013 and 2014 are almost the same, the rise shows that we are on the right track. We are doing our best to improve the child sex ratio by conducting regular meetings with doctors, and awareness programmes."
While the BMC is patting its back for the improved data, experts working in improving the CSR in the state think otherwise.
Advocate Varsha Deshpande, who runs Lek Ladki Abhiyan – A Satara based NGO which has been working against pre-natal sex determination said: "The CSR in Mumbai is at risk. Genetic labs and counselling centres are yet to be registered under the PCPNDT Act and thus are neither maintaining the mandatory forms D, E, G, nor reporting to the concerned authorities."
Deshpande, who is part of the National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC) team which visited Mumbai last month and found glaring loopholes in implementation of the PCPDNT Act, referred Mumbai as a hub of genetic business.
"It won't be fair to judge the government's monitoring system for child sex ratio in the city, as there are women who go out of the city to deliver baby. Such deliveries (where couple knows the sex of the child) will affect the national CSR, or that of the place where the child is born. It is found that 80% of the babies born where genetic counselling is involved, are boys," she said.
Explaining why genetic counselling centres and infertility centres need to follow PCPDNT law, a senior health official said that certain procedures in in vitro fertilisation (IVF) like the pre-implementation genetic diagnosis (PGD) procedure may reveal the sex of a foetus.
"Another test, 'Cell-free foetal DNA testing', a screening test, indicates if a woman is at an increased risk of having a foetus with Down Syndrome. In this test, the blood sample of the woman is taken after 10 weeks of pregnancy. Through this test, if a doctor wants to, s/he can know the sex of a foetus," said the official, who requested anonymity.
What is child sex ratio?
Child sex ratio is defined as the number of females per thousand males in the 0-6 age group. While child sex ratio is principally determined by the sex ratio at birth, it is also influenced by a number of other factors such as under-registration of girls, child mortality and age misreporting.
CSR of the last 5 yrs
2010: 919
2011: 917
2012: 922
2013: 930
2014: 931
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