By IANS,
Chandigarh : President Pratibha Patil arrived here Tuesday on a two-day visit that will also take her to Amritsar to inaugurate a campaign to save the girl child.
The president will remain in this twin capital Tuesday. She was received at the airport by the governors of Punjab and Haryana, Shivraj Patil and Jagannath Pahadia, and the chief ministers of the two states, Parkash Singh Badal and Bhupinder Singh Hooda,
Patil will attend a lunch at the Haryana Raj Bhavan (governor house) followed by a dinner at the Punjab Raj Bhavan.
The president will fly to Amritsar Wednesday morning to take part in the ‘Nanhi Chhaan’ (Tender Shadow) campaign launched by various organisations to save the girl child.
Under the campaign, people are encouraged to save the girl child, especially in states like Punjab and Haryana which have the worst sex ratio in the country, and help protect rights of women. They are also given saplings to plant in their homes and neighbourhood to save the environment.
Since the inception of the programme from the Golden Temple complex in August 2007, over 750,000 saplings have been distributed across the country.
NGOs, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), top private sector companies and corporate leaders, besides individuals, are involved in the campaign.
“In India, one out of five girl children die before attaining the age of five. Nanhi Chhaan believes in the importance of recognising the girl child as essential for humanity and considers it the right of every girl child to be able to live her life with dignity. Nanhi Chhaan believes that the nurturing of each sapling into a tree is symbolic of the life of the girl child,” a campaign spokesperson said.
Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, who arrived here Monday and later went to Patiala, 70 km from here, to stay at the palace of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala, flew out to Jodhpur Tuesday.