Twodayold girl abandoned near tracks in Bihar

A two-day old girl child, abandoned along railway tracks, was recovered from Hajipur in Vaishali district on Monday, causing some embarrassment to the government.

The recovery came hours before Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar launched his second ambitious social reforms agenda — to end the practice of dowry and child marriage — in Patna, 30 kms south of Vaishali on Monday. A passer-by spotted the girl child in the bushes along the Jagjivan Ram rail bridge across the Gandak river at Tangaul colony under the Hajipur Town police station of district headquarters Vaishali.

The Childline India Foundation, an NGO that operates a telephone helpline called Childline (1098) — a phone outreach service for children — took custody of the baby and admitted her to the Hajipur sadar hospital.

“The agency has recovered 10 abandoned female infants from Vaishali and foiled 40 child marriages in the district during the last one year,” said Childline district nodal director Sudhir Shukla.

Vaishali is Bihar’s lone district and among the 100 shortlisted for the beti bachao, beti padhao (save the girl child, educate the girl child) national campaign.

Keen to build on the ‘success’ of prohibition as a vehicle of social change, Kumar on Monday kicked off a massive campaign against child marriage and dowry, saying “unless such evils were tackled, society cannot reap the full benefits of developmental initiatives”.

Launching the drive at Bapu Bhawan of Ashoka Convention Centre that was also inaugurated on Monday, Kumar said, “Bihar has laid the foundation for social change by implementing prohibition. Now we must pledge to deal with the prevalence of social evils of child marriage and dowry, despite laws against it.”

PATNA: A PASSERBY SPOTTED THE GIRL CHILD IN

THE BUSHES ALONG THE JAGJIVAN RAM RAIL BRIDGE