End 'half-hearted' approach to scheme against female foeticide: Rights body to Raj govt

Lack of adequate staff has resulted in "half-hearted" implementation of the Rajasthan government's Mukhbir scheme that relies on informers to check female foeticide, said a human rights report today.
According to the report titled "Rajasthan's Record on the Missing Girls: India's one-eyed king in the land of the blind?" released by the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) here, 31 'mukhbirs' (informers) and 20 pregnant women were awarded under the scheme for providing information on sex selection, as on December 20, 2016.
Rajasthan is the only state to have a bureau of investigation for the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act. The cell secured 85 convictions, the highest in the country, under the Act during 2009-2015, despite being short-staffed, the report stated.

Only 12 staff members were appointed in the PC&PNDT bureau at the state level against the sanctioned staff of 18, it said.
The ACHR, which has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, has said that despite three posts being sanctioned at the district level in December 2012, they have been lying vacant.
Paritosh Chakma, Director, ACHR said that the bureau's work in the desert state is of significance to address its child sex ratio (CSR), which has been consistently falling.

"Even with no infrastructure and almost no staff, the bureau has managed to get the highest convictions across the country under the Act. Imagine, if it had got the required support system, what it could have achieved.

"The setting up of the bureau itself was an innovative move and it needs to be strengthened. As of now, it has been pursued only half-heartedly," he said.
As per 1981 census, the CSR in Rajasthan was a 'healthy' 954, but it reduced to 916 (as per 1991 census), 909 as per 2001 census and 888 as per 2011 census.
The fall in the CSR is spread across the state.
As per the 2011 census, 27 out of 33 districts of Rajasthan recorded the CSR below the national average of 919, while in 12 out of 33 districts, it was below the state average of 888.