By IANS,
Bhopal : The Madhya Pradesh government will launch a campaign christened “Bitiya” (Daughter) to create awareness against female foeticide and discrimination against girls. Existing laws to curb sex determination tests and foeticide will also be given more teeth.
“A campaign named ‘Bitiya’ would be launched in the state to create awareness against sex determination and female foeticide,” state Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Anup Mishra said late Friday while chairing a meeting of the supervisory board for monitoring implementation of Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Technique Act (PC&PNDT Act), 1996.
He stressed the need for keeping close watch over the centres where sex determination tests are conducted to detect and kill a girl child in the womb itself and asked the authorities concerned to cancel the registration of those doctors who did not have permission to install sonography machine and take strict action against them.
The minister directed the officials to focus on the districts where misconception about girls still persisted and said that some amendments would be made to the PC&PNDT Act to check such centres which encourage the malpractice of sex determination and female foeticide.
Mishra also instructed to appoint a legal adviser for effective and quick legal action in such cases, adding that a meeting of health ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan will be convened soon to chalk out a joint strategy to counter sex determination tests and girl embryo killings.