‘Rajasthan a role model for Beti Bachao campaign’
HEALTH MINISTER KALI CHARAN SARAF SAID THE GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS TO CURB FEMALE FOETICIDE HAVE BORNE AND THE STATE HAS WON THE NATIONAL NARI SHAKTI AWARD
JAIPUR: Rajasthan health minister Kali Charan Saraf on Friday said the government’s efforts to curb female foeticide have borne fruit and the state has emerged as a model for the ‘Beti Bachao’ campaign in the country.
Expressing happiness on Rajasthan wining the national Nari Shakti award of the Union ministry of women and child development, Saraf said stringent steps taken by the state government such as the chief minister’s Rajshri scheme, Mukhbir scheme, regular monitoring, and decoy operations were showing good results.
The awards will be presented by President Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi on March 8.
Saraf said as per the 2011 Census, the child sex ratio of the state was 888 girls per 1,000 boys. But according to initial data available for 2016 from the government’s Pregnancy Child Tracking System, the sex ratio at birth has risen to 939.
He further said that the government has cracked down on sonography centres that conduct sex determination tests and until now a total of 60 decoy operations, including 10 interstate ones have been carried out and the guilty persons arrested. In this financial year, a total of 30 decoy operations were carried out, he said.
Under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 10,625 inspections were carried out in the state and 475 sonography machines were seized, registrations of 194 sonography centres was suspended, and registration of 419 centres was terminated, Saraf said.
Out of the 641 cases filed in court, 145 accused have been punished, he said.
Minister of state for health Bansidhar Khandela said the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques cell has taken up the ‘beti bachao’ campaign as a mission and is working in earnest.
He said initiative active trackers, GPS systems, impact software and toll free helpline numbers 104 and 108 and decoy operations have helped curtail the shameful practice of female foeticide.
He further said that the government is taking services of doctors and NGOs to change the narrow mindset of society towards the girl child and spread awareness against sex determination.