Relevance for UPSC: GS Paper I (Society), GS Paper II (Governance), GS Paper IV (Ethics)
Source: Indian Express;  National Family Health Survey data

Context

Haryana was long identified with severe gender imbalance at birth, driven by son preference, sex-selective abortions, and misuse of medical technology. In the Census of 2011, the sex ratio at birth stood at 834 girls per 1,000 boys. 

By 2025, it improved to around 923, marking a rare and sustained demographic correction. This improvement was achieved not through isolated schemes, but through consistent governance, strict legal enforcement, administrative accountability, and social engagement.

Governance Approach: Key Pillars

1. Law Enforcement with Accountability

• Strict enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 to prevent sex determination.
• Monitoring of abortion facilities under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy law.
• Use of decoy operations, licence cancellation, and criminal prosecution.
• District administrations held accountable for abnormal sex ratio fluctuations.

Governance insight: Law functioned as a deterrent instrument, not merely a symbolic safeguard.

2. Technology-Driven Administrative Vigilance

• Introduction of unique pregnancy identification numbers, linked to health facilities.
• Mandatory tracking of pregnancy outcomes and medical justifications for abortions.
• Rise in early pregnancy registration enabled preventive oversight.

Governance insight:
Technology strengthened outcome-based monitoring, reducing discretion gaps.

3. Strengthening the Last Mile

• Accredited Social Health Activists and Anganwadi workers actively tracked pregnancies and counselled families.
• Focused attention on families with daughters.
• Decline in late-term abortions indicated behavioural change.

Governance insight:
Street-level bureaucracy emerged as the backbone of reform.

4. Incentives and Citizen Participation

• Financial rewards for whistle-blowers reporting illegal practices.
• Citizen participation disrupted organised sex-selection networks.

Governance insight:
Behavioural incentives complemented coercive regulation.

5. Social Norm Transformation

• Launch of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao from Haryana in 2015.
• Shift from symbolic messaging to inter-departmental convergence involving health, education, police, and local administration.

Governance insight:
Sustained norm change, not short campaigns, delivered results.

Outcomes

• Best sex ratio at birth recorded in over two decades.
• More than 65,000 girl children estimated to have been saved.
• Progress sustained even during periods of administrative stress.
• Improved trust in public health institutions.

Remaining Challenges

• Illegal portable diagnostic devices and online medical supply chains.
• Cross-border evasion due to uneven enforcement across States.
• Persistent inheritance and lineage biases.

Way Forward

• Replication of pregnancy tracking with strong privacy safeguards.
• Regulation of online medical equipment markets.
• Strengthening women’s education and property rights, as emphasised by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission.
• Continuous district-level monitoring aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 5.

Haryana’s success shows that demographic correction is possible when law, technology, and social mobilisation work together consistently.

UPSC Value Box Why this issue matters Society: Corrects gender imbalance and protects dignity of women. Governance: Shows how State capacity can address entrenched social evils. Ethics: Balances surveillance with protection of rights. Key challenge Sustaining gains without exclusion or privacy violations. Way forward National replication with accountability, safeguards, and social reform.

One-line Wrap: Effective governance can change even deeply rooted social behaviour.

Q. Haryana’s improvement in sex ratio at birth demonstrates the role of governance in correcting social biases. Discuss.