PUNJAB’s slight improvement in sex ratio at birth — from 922 girls per 1,000 boys in 2024 to 924 this year — offers little reason for celebration. Beneath the marginal rise lies a deeply disturbing reality: 14 of the state’s 23 districts have recorded a decline, with the Malwa region emerging as the worst affected. The figures from districts such as Muktsar, Sangrur, Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib expose the persistence of a social prejudice that prosperity and legislation have failed to erase. For decades, Punjab has grappled with the stigma of son preference. Despite awareness campaigns, legal safeguards and repeated political assurances, daughters continue to face discrimination even before birth. The continuing imbalance suggests that the problem is embedded in social attitudes shaped by patriarchy, inheritance anxieties and dowry-related pressures. That relatively prosperous and urbanised districts are among the worst performers only underlines how economic development alone cannot guarantee social reform.
The contrast within Punjab is equally revealing. Several districts in Doaba have reported healthier sex ratios, reflecting the impact of higher literacy, social awareness and better institutional vigilance. Malwa, despite being the state’s political powerhouse, continues to lag behind on key social indicators. The sharp decline in Sangrur — Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s home district — should particularly serve as a wake-up call for the government. Official claims that no complaints of female foeticide have surfaced cannot become grounds for complacency. Sex-selective practices have become increasingly covert and technologically sophisticated. The state must move beyond symbolic campaigns and ensure rigorous enforcement of the PC-PNDT Act through surprise inspections, tighter monitoring of diagnostic centres and community-level social interventions.
Punjab cannot aspire to progress while its daughters continue to disappear silently before birth. A skewed sex ratio is as much a demographic concern as it is a reflection of society’s moral failure.
