Report by OD bureau, New Delhi: Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has dropped by 3 points from 47 to 44 infant deaths per 1000 live births during 2011. As per October 2012 bulletin of the Sample Registration System (SRS) released by the Registrar General of India (RGI), the IMR for rural areas has dropped by 3 points from 51 to 48 infant deaths per 1000 live births while the Urban rate now stands at 29 from the previous 31/1000. 

Among the states, Goa and Manipur have the lowest IMR of 11 infant deaths followed by Kerala with 12 infant deaths per 1000 live births. Madhya Pradesh has the highest IMR of 59/1000 followed by UP and Odisha with 57/1000 IMR. Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Meghalaya have IMRs more than the national average of 44. 

It may be mentioned that the Sample Registration System (SRS) is a large-scale demographic survey for providing reliable annual estimates of birth rate, death rate and other fertility & mortality indicators at the national and sub-national levels. The field investigation consists of continuous enumeration of births and deaths in selected sample units by anganwadi workers and teachers. An independent survey is also done by SRS supervisors every six months. The data obtained by these two independent functionaries are matched. The unmatched events are re-verified in the field and an unduplicated count of births and deaths is thus obtained. The SRS sample is replaced every ten years based on the latest census frame. 

At present, SRS is operational in 7,597 sample units (4,433 rural and 3,164 urban) spread across all States and Union territories and covers about 1.5 million households and 7.35 million population.