For the first time, the birth rate of girls in the state has reached 918 per 1,000 boys, Haryana government said on Thursday, emphasising that the figure is expected to reach 920 by the end of the year.

The government claimed that this was due to the successful implementation of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign by the state Government,

This came out in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Project Director, Chief Minister's Good Governance Associates Programme, Rakesh Gupta to review the progress of various schemes with the Deputy Commissioners through video conferencing.

Projects such as Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and CM Window, Social Media Grievance Tracker, Haryana Vision Zero, Antyodaya Saral Project and Saksham Haryana were reviewed in the meeting.

Officials said in the meeting that in the year 2014, the number of girls per 1000 boys was 871, 876 in 2015, 900 in 2016, 914 in 2017-18 whereas the number is 918 till June, 2019.

Gupta commended the district administrations of Panchkula, Hisar, Yamunanagar, Narnaul and Ambala for their better performance for saving the girls. Apart from this, he directed the officers concerned to fix the loopholes in the PNDT, MTP and POCSO Act.

He directed the Health Department and the Women and Child Development Department to further improve the sex ratio. The raid campaign should also be expedited.

The Project Director said that rapid action should be taken on receipt of any information regarding imbalance in sex ratio, directing the Police, Health and Women and Child Development Departments to work as a team and take concrete action.

He said that the people involved in sex determination tests and female foeticide should not be spared in any case. Reviewing the Antyodaya Saral Project, Gupta said that three Antyodaya Saral Kendras and one Saral Kendras of Palwal have secured first place for better performance in the months of June-July on the schemes and services related to different departments. Appreciating this, he directed other districts to speed up their functioning. He also directed to promptly resolve the complaints pending on the CM window and on social media.

He said that the main objective of Saksham Yojana is to bring qualitative improvement in the level of education in schools so that the child can complete full syllabus properly, adding that on September 3, 2019, there will be an evaluation of the students under the Saksham Yojana for which the District Education Officer and District Elementary Education Officer preparations should start the preparation from now so that necessary improvement could be brought in the education level of children.

He said that like schools, the level of government colleges in the state will also be raised so that every child can get the best higher education in government colleges.