By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday appealed to all elected representatives to fight female foeticide and asked the health ministry to train a million plus representatives of village panchayats to carry the fight to the grassroots level.
“Action to protect the girl child has to be on the agenda of every elected leader in our country. This is not to say that only women should be part of this campaign,” Manmohan Singh said
“I do believe, every elected representative must consider it his duty to be an active participant in this national campaign,” Manmohan Singh told a national conference on ‘Save the Girl Child’.
He asked the health ministry and the women and child development ministry to train representatives of the local self-governments to fight the social menace.
“Let the Ministry of Health focus on orienting the million plus elected representatives of the panchayats and urban local bodies and use them as the medium for fighting this practice,” he said.
“The ministry of women and child development should enlist the support of women panchayat leaders and women’s self-help groups to strengthen the nutrition programme in our country.”
According to the last census, India’s child sex ratio is 927 per 1,000 boys and the sex ratio is declining over the last four decades.
Manmohan Singh said that government, people, and non-government organisations should join hands to fight against female foeticide.
“It is not government alone that can address this problem. Though the government must be active in mobilizing public opinion in this regard. We need active civil society involvement in the national campaign to save the girl child,” he added.
The prime minister said good schemes like Dikri Bachao campaign of Gujarat, Girl Child Protection Scheme of Tamil Nadu, Devi Rupak Scheme of Haryana, and the Ladli campaign of Delhi need to be “built upon” for the larger good.