Annual Report 2009-2010 was recorded up to the period December 2008. The reason for this continuous decline in the percentage of overcrowding in jails could be a�ributed to continuous monitoring by the NHRC and steps taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in providing requisite funds to the State Governments for improving the conditions in jails as well as increasing the capacity of their respective jails by way of constructing new blocks. These corrective measures perhaps are bringing out the desired results. The analysis up to December 2008 has moreover confirmed that the declining trend observed in December 2006 seems to have continued till December 2008 and it is presumed that this trend would persist in the future too. Interestingly, while the percentage of overcrowding in jails had considerably come down in 17 States/Union Territories, there seemed to be a reverse trend in 9 States/Union Territories. The States/Union Territories where substantial decrease in the overall percentage of overcrowding was seen were Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Puducherry. The decrease in the overall percentage of overcrowding was found to be vast in Orissa and deserves appreciation. The position of N.C.T of Delhi which earlier ranked foremost in overcrowding seems to have been surpassed now by Chha�isgarh followed by U�ar Pradesh. The increase in the percentage of overcrowding was found to be alarmingly high in the State of Chha�isgarh. Overcrowding in the concerned State up to December 2007 was to the extent of 99.5 per cent, whereas in December 2008 it was reported to be 202.53 per cent. 5.16 The continuing but minuscule decline in the percentage of undertrials observed in previous years was also noticed during the period under report as there was a further marginal decline of 0.50 per cent. The percentage of undertrial prisoners was 74.5 per cent as on 31 December 2006. This slowly and steadily had come down to 67.9 per cent as on 31 December 2007 and decreased marginally further in December 2008. The number of States/Union Territories experiencing minor changes, in terms of increase/decrease in percentage, was altogether 14 in December 2006. This number augmented up to 21 in December 2008. States/Union Territories like Mizoram, Nagaland, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh and Daman & Diu registered a drop of more than five per cent whereas Chha�isgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Manipur and Sikkim registered an increase of more than five per cent. Nine States/Union Territories were having women who had children in jails and their overall percentage seemed to be higher than the all-India figure of 13.27 per cent. Prominent among them were West Bengal (28.73%), followed by Jharkhand (21.04%) and U�ar Pradesh (17.22%). ***** 86 NHRC