Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) has decided to create an extra seat and reserve it for girls who are the single child of their parents in graduate and postgraduate professional courses, an official statement said on Friday.

"We have decided to reserve one supernumerary seat for single girl child in postgraduate and undergraduate professional courses from this academic year," HPU Vice-Chancellor Sunil Kumar Gupta said in the statement.

He said the notification in this regard was issued March 8, observed as International Women's Day.

"The creation and reservation of one seat for single girl child has been done to curb the malpractices of sex selection and female foeticide," he added.

The undergraduate professional courses for which the reservation would apply include BBA, BCA, BA LLB (five years), B. Tech and BTA.

As per the 2001 Census, the sex ratio in major states ranged from 861 in Haryana to 1,058 in Kerala. Himachal Pradesh recorded 968 females for 1,000 males. IANS