ABSTRACT
Introduction: The proportion of girls “missing” has risensharply, there are obvious moral and human concernsgenerated by such extreme manifestation of gender inequity.In India, increase in overall sex ratio shown by the 2011census is applauded at several forums. However, decline inthe child sex ratio i.e. number of girls to boys in 0-6 years agegroup fell from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011. It is the lowestsince independence. Haryana is among the most affected stateregarding imbalance of child sex ratio. Therefore, this studywas conducted to assess the present child sex ratio and itstrend in Agroha village of Haryana.Material and Methods: This community based cross sectionalstudy was conducted in Agroha village of Haryana. Fivehundred and fifteen mothers having children in the age groupof less than 6 years were selected for the study. The primarytool in this study was predesigned and pretested interviewschedule for recording of family and individual information.Data were analyzed by using appropriate statistical tests (viz.Proportions, Mean ± SD, Chi-square test etc.).Results: With increasing parity significant decline in child sexratio was observed. Sex Ratio for 1st birth order children was929 females per 1000 males. It fell in the 2nd birth order to 830,3rd birth order to 699, 4th birth order to 462, 5th birth order to417 and still further to only 308 for 6th birth order. There was asignificant linear relationship between adverse child sex ratioin the study population with increasing birth order.Conclusion: As masculinisation with increasing parity wasobserved in the study area, it is concluded that Haryana has yeta long way to go in her fight against declining child sex ratio.