Chandigarh, August 5 - As per the directions of Health and Family Welfare Minister Aarti Singh Rao, the weekly meeting of the State Task Force (STF) for improving sex ratio in Haryana was held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Health, Shri Sudhir Rajpal. The meeting focused on curbing illegal abortions and intensifying efforts to further improve the sex ratio of the state under the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign.
It was informed in the meeting that the continuous efforts of the state government have yielded encouraging results, the sex ratio of the state has improved to 907 from January 1 to July 31 this year (2025), which was 889 during the same period last year. The Additional Chief Secretary stressed the need for strict action against illegal abortions and directed the authorities to take action, including cancellation of licenses of doctors found guilty.
He said that the state is implementing reverse tracking in all cases of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) and abortions beyond 12 weeks, especially in cases where the women already have one or more girls.
In July alone, 32 FIRs were registered in suspected reverse tracking cases, in which 32 arrests were made. Besides, FIRs are pending in four more cases and 38 notices have been issued to private hospitals and clinics violating the rules.
In a unique and inclusive initiative, the Additional Chief Secretary directed that the transgender community be actively involved in celebrating the birth of girls across the state. Under this initiative, members of the transgender community will visit the homes where a girl child is born.
Just as they traditionally do on the birth of a boy child, they will present the girl child’s family with a certificate of Rs 21,000 invested in LIC under the Your Beti Hamari Beti Yojana. For this, the Haryana government will also encourage the transgender community and proposes to give a minimum amount of Rs 1,100 to such transgenders.
The entire campaign will be run under the supervision of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the concerned district. The Additional Chief Secretary also ordered action against IVF centres involved in sex determination tests and illegal abortions. It was decided that for better monitoring, all implantations done through IVF should be registered under Antenatal Care (ANC).
He also asked the police department to actively coordinate with the health department teams to keep a watch on illegal abortion centres and arrest the culprits, and also sought a report on the progress made in the FIRs registered so far by next week.
The Women and Child Development Department said that an awareness advertisement on the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign is being prepared and will soon be aired in cinema halls across the state.
The meeting was attended by Secretary, Health Department and Mission Director, National Health Mission, Mr. Ripudaman Singh Dhillon and senior officers of various departments.