Authorities are investigating why not one girl was born across dozens of villages in a northern Indian district in the last three months. In a country grappling with a skewed gender ratio, data has revealed that of the 216 newborns in 132 villages across the Uttarkashi district, in Uttarakhand state, none were girls, the news agency ANI reported.

It raises concerns that the central government’s policy to try to tackle the prevalence of sex-selective abortion, is not working.

India outlawed the selective abortion of female fetuses in 1994 but it is still a common practice in a country where dowries for girls, although outlawed, are expensive and boys are considered to be the main breadwinners.

Census data in 2011 showed there were 914 girls to every 1,000 boys for children up to the age of six, but in some northern states that ratio was as low as 850, according to the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA).

Last year, a government report found about 63 million women were “missing” from the country’s population. “Issues relating to son preference are a matter for Indian society as a whole to reflect upon,” the report said.