Save the girl child, says PM……Vineeta Pandey. New Delhi
Taking forward governments campaign against female foeticide, prime minister Manmohan Singh has asked MPs, MLAs and panchayat heads to actively participate in the national campaign to save the girl child.
Womens empowerment begins at home, said Dr Singh. I do not say this as the prime minister of India. I say this as the proud father of three daughters. I wish for every girl in our country what I wish for my own daughters, said the PM during the national meeting on Save the Girl Child campaign.
Emphasising that societal discrimination against women begins at home, the PM said, It begins even before the girl child is born. The patriarchal mindset and preference for male children is compounded by unethical conduct on the part of some medical practitioners who, assisted by unscrupulous parents, illegally offer sex determination services.
We must overcome this great problem through social awareness and strict enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques Act. I earnestly urge all concerned to help in putting an end to this practice, conducted through misuse of otherwise life-saving modern technology, he said.
Singh wants the health ministry to take help from the elected representatives of the panchayats and urban local bodies and use them as a medium for fighting female foeticide. He also told the ministry of women and child development to take help from female panchayat leaders and self-help groups to strengthen the nutrition programme in the country.
Highlighting that female illiteracy, obscurantist social practices like child marriage, dowry, poor nutritional entitlements, and taboos on women in public places make the Indian women, especially the girl child extremely vulnerable, the PM said the challenge must be faced squarely here and now. He asserted that the government alone cannot address this problem, without active involvement of the civil society.
We need to strengthen legislative enforcement, basic healthcare and nutrition, and reorient national literacy and school education programmes to give greater focus to women and the girl child. We need to mobilise leaders of civil society, particularly the religious leaders, for a nationwide campaign for ending all types of discrimination against our women. The action must begin at home, in our families, in our communities, the prime minister said.