Excelsior Correspondent
AKHNOOR, Apr 27: Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma today expressed grave concern over the constant decrease in the female sex ratio in the State and called for strenuous efforts to promote the girl child. He stressed the need for an attitudinal change in the society by spreading a strong message about the impact of sex imbalance in the socio-cultural set up.
The Minister was speaking at a day-long awareness meet on declining child sex ratio at village Bharda Klan, near here today. The programme was organized by the National Development Foundation (NDF) in collaboration with Action Aid.
MP Madan Lal Sharma and prominent religious figures, Mufti Mohammad Inayat Ullah and Swami Umesha Nanda were also present on the occasion as special guests.
Seeking the support of entire society to curb the menace of foeticide, the Minister said that only Government efforts and stringent laws are not the solution to tackle this problem but all sections of the society have to contribute to deal with this sensitive and social issue. He said, “we have to remove the concept of male child from the minds of women folk who foeticide the girls by giving preference to a male child. This can be possible through mass awareness and efforts by various social/religious organizations by utilizing the opportunities on religious/social events.”
The Minister said that, he, during his tenure as Health Minister, took strong measures to promote the girl child and to check the sex determination system in the State and during the past couple of years, a substantial improvement in the indicators of girl child has been observed. He said the Government has also announced attractive incentives/awards for the whistle blowers for providing inputs about the sex determination and people are coming forward to report such happenings to the authorities. He stressed the need to step up the awareness efforts by various stake holders, especially the social organizations, NGOs to educate the people for saving the girl child.
Madan Lal Sharma said that vacuum created due to imbalance in sex ratio will have long run repercussion in the society. He called for collective efforts to deal with this social issue. He said all social/religious/educational organizations should come forward and join hands with the Government to curb the menace of foeticide which is serious crime.
Mufti Mohammad Inayat Ullah and Swami Umesha Nanda delivered their religious messages on the subject and highlighted the importance of women folk in the society on religious point of view. They described the foeticide as social crime and said that no religion permit to do so. They urged the people to respect the women as every religion teaches it. They also asked the people to work untidily for bringing social reforms and eradicating all social evils from the society. They also called for promoting communal harmony and mutual brother hood to make the society more prosperous.
Rajiv Khajuria, Chief Functionary, NDF also addressed the gathering and threw light on the issue.
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