Increasing awareness and BMC's consistent efforts are helping to bridge the gender gap as far as sterilisation surgeries are concerned, but Mumbai still has a long way to go. Though the number of men opting for the surgery has increased by 19 per cent from 2013 to 2017, the same among women has seen a dip. Even the total number of sterilisation cases in the city has dropped by 10 per cent.

Rising trend
According to sources, last year, to encourage more men to undergo vasectomy, the civic body had declared R1,451 for each of them and R200 for those who convince other men for the procedure. As per the data collected through RTI, in 2013, only 729 men underwent the procedure for permanent contraception, which rose to 869 in 2017. In 2014, only 424 men underwent vasectomy, which increased to 810 the following year and 729 in 2016.