By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi stressed on efforts to bring down the Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate, anaemia, malnourishment and improvement in the child sex ratio in state besides curb human trafficking, child labour, crime against women as he reviewed ‘Vision Document for Women and Children 2016’ on Monday.
“A mapping exercise has to be carried out identifying the areas lagging behind in health parameters to get a more realistic picture. We need to work on certain areas like to bring down the Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate, anaemia, malnourishment and improvement in the child sex. There is the need to synergise and coordinate the efforts of all the departments to achieve the desired goals by 2016,” Gogoi said on Monday after a marathon annual review meeting with ministers and senior officials of the concerned departments.
Assam Marun Gogoi with other ministers during the review meeting at secretariat on Monday. [Photo by: DIPR, Assam]
He also added that the departments have to work in tandem to achieve the goals as envisaged in the Vision Document for Women and Children 2016.
It can be mentioned that the total Fertility Rate of the state is 2.5. The infant mortality rate is 58 and maternal mortality ratio is 390 (SRS 2007 – 2009) which are higher than the national average. The Sex Ratio in the state is 954 as compared to 940 for the country.
Among the major goals set by the vision document are reducing infant mortality rate to 38 per 1,000 live births, reducing maternal mortality to 210 per one lakh live births, reducing total fertility to 2.1 per cent, improving child sex ratio by 30 points to 987, reducing anaemia among children by 45 per cent and achieving 100 per cent enrolment of girls up to class 8.
The chief minister also said that especial measures to be taken to curb the rate of crime against women and advocated to work together with other north-eastern states. “School drop-outs is an area of serious concern. This calls for special measures. For this purpose a ministerial committee will be constituted to conduct a block wise survey for bringing down the school drop-outs, especially at the secondary stage,” he said adding that development of women and children is must for economic development of a country.
It also targets to bring child labourers into the educational mainstream, create women’s cell in every police station, provide sanitary toilets and safe drinking water to all rural habitations and reduce stamp and registration charges.
The document, titled as ‘Chief Minister’s Vision for Women and Children: 2016’ also seeks to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in all skill development programmes, besides curbing child labour and trafficking of women.