Haryana conveys concerns about NITI Aayog report

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today conveyed to the NITI Aayog his concerns about a report brought out by the policy think tank which made it appear that the state's performance in the health sector was declining.
Khattar conveyed to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar his concerns about the use of sampling data in a recent report titled 'Healthy States, Progressive India'.
During a meeting between the two, the chief minister clarified that data for 2016-17 was readily available at the time of the report and had it been taken into consideration, significant improvements registered by Haryana on all indices compared to 2015 would have easily been recognized, said an official release.

In a note that the chief minister handed over to Kumar, it was clarified that Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) had actually shown a two point decline from 24 in 2015 to 22 in 2016 whereas the report cited the previous increase from 23 in 2014 to 24 in 2015.
Similarly, the under five mortality rate has declined from 42 in 2015 to 37 in 2016 whereas the report cited the previous increase from 40 in 2014 to 42 in 2015.
The full immunization coverage which the report shows increased from 82.54 in year 2014 to 83.47 per cent in 2015 has further improved to 89.13 per cent in 2016.

It is further clarified that as per the NITI Aayog report, sex ratio at birth (SRB) as per Sample Registration System (SRS) has declined from 866 per 1000 to 831 from Base Year 2012-14 to reference year 2013-15.

This is based on Sample Registration System in which 251 sampling units in rural and urban areas covering only 2,35,000 population of state and providing information for the state only not district wise, the release said.
However much more realistic information is captured through Civil Registration System (CRS) of Registrar General of India (RGI) that is capturing real time monthly data of all birth registered.

As per latest SRS 2014-16 the sex ratio at birth is 832 and as per CRS report the SRB was 900 for year 2016 and 914 for year 2017. The SRB data of CRS was also validated by third party agency
He said that it clearly reflects the efforts made by the State to improve the sex ratio at birth after launch of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.