NEW DELHI, Apr 19:
As many as 49 out of 100 districts of the country where government’s ambitious ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign to save and empower the girl child was launched last year have recorded significant improvement in child sex-ratio at birth, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said today.
“There has been significant improvement in child sex-ratio at birth in 49 districts which is much beyond our expectation,” the Minister for Women and Child Development said, speaking at the launch of the campaign in 61 additional districts.
Maneka emphasised on the need for compulsory registration of pregnant women by village panchayats to curb female foeticide.
“Sarpanches (village heads) should be made the nodal person in every village for monitoring pregnant women,” she said.
Setting a target for improving child sex-ratio at birth by 10 points minimum every year, Gandhi asked the deputy commissioners and district magistrates to adopt a “proactive approach” by launching creative initiatives to change the mentality of the people towards girl child.
“Our goal is to improve sex ratio at birth by 10 points minimum every year. It will lead to 50 points in five years bringing it upto par,” she said.
A 10 point raise would mean the number of girls going up by ten vis-a-vis every 1000 births of male children.
She appealed to the states to achieve 100 per cent institutional deliveries and put boards displaying number of girls and boys in every village.
“It is very difficult to kill a child in hospital, but easier through midwives at home and then say the child was born dead. So, 100 per cent institutional delivery is very important,” she said.
“Secondly, the sarpanch in every village has to have a board of how many girls and boys are living there,” she said.
The Minister also asked them to map and register all the ultrasound machines to keep a check on illegal sex selection and monitoring of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act.
“District authorities need to tell all the village sarpanches about PCPNDT Act and provide them legal counselling about laws protecting women against violence. They have to put the fear of PCPNDT Act as Haryana has done. It is the key to it. They need to map and register all the ultrasound machines in the districts and establish online web portal,” she said.
Noting that security, education and marriage are the main reasons behind parents not preferring a girl child, the minister asked the district authorities to work on all these aspects for the success of the campaign and help change the mindset in favour of women and girls.
“This programme will succeed only if you can only make security better for girls. Also, their education and marriage are a concern. Districts should ensure that there are no dropouts from schools and some kind of assistance for their marriages should also be given,” she said.
The Government’s ambitious ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign to save and empower girl child was launched in January last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Panipat in Haryana, the state with the lowest sex ratio at birth.
The campaign is being implemented in 100 districts of the country, including 12 of Haryana where the number of girl child is dismally low. (PTI)
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