Panjab’s Sex Ratio Hits a 5-year Low; Over 80% Posts Vacant in Rural CHCs

July

2026

According to the Vital Statistics of India, 2024 report, Panjab’s struggle with gender imbalance has intensified as it fell to 20^th place out of 36 Indian states and union territories in the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) data. The state’s SRB, which indicates the number of girls born per 1K boys, hit a five-year low of 921 in 2024. It stood at 925 in 2020, before slipping to 924 in 2021, 923 in 2022, and 922 in 2023. Fatehgarh Sahib emerged as the worst-performing district in Panjab, recording a sex ratio of 895. It was followed closely by Gurdaspur, which recorded an equally concerning ratio of 899. Bathinda and Sangrur districts jointly recorded the third-lowest sex ratio at 901. Behind them, Sahibzada Ajit Singh (SAS) Nagar and Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar were tied at 904. Public health experts point to deep-seated patriarchal attitudes, male-heir preference, and shrinking family sizes as long-term drivers of sex selection, but emphasize that institutional failure is the immediate catalyst. They attribute Panjab’s poor SRB to the weak implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act enforcement. Meanwhile, not a single Community Health Center (CHC) in rural Panjab has the four mandatory medical specialists required under public health norms, according to the Health Dynamics of India 2023–24 report released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The report states that against a sanctioned strength of 259 specialist posts, in a total of 84 functional rural CHCs, only 51 posts are occupied, while 208 remain vacant. This reflects a vacancy rate of more than 80%. The shortage extends to sub-divisional hospitals where only 388 of the 648 sanctioned specialist posts are filled, leaving 260 vacancies. Compounding this is a shortage of medical officers—of the 368 sanctioned posts, only 177 are occupied, while 191 remain vacant. Similarly, widespread neglect, and alleged corruption have hollowed out government veterinary institutions across SAS Nagar district. Established to provide essential healthcare to livestock and other animals, many veterinary hospitals are abandoned structures that are functional only on paper. According to the Panjab Animal Husbandry website, there are 1,367 civil veterinary hospitals, and 1,489 dispensaries in the state but how many of these are actually functional is difficult to assess (earlier coverage).