Indian families prefer a male child and the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) data has long been skewed as a result. But there are winds of change. SRB has improved by 16 points from 918 in 2014-15 to 934 in 2019-20, per data by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Of 640 districts covered under BBBP, a total of 422 districts have shown improvement in sex ratio at birth.? Even perennially awful performers like Mau in Uttar Pradesh, which merely had 694 girls per 1,000 boys in 2014-15, has improved to 951 in 2019-20. What gives? The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme seems to be working. It was launched in 2015 to bring behavioural changes towards birth and rights of a girl child.
