Schoolchildren may soon learn about the intriguing story of the missing girl child. Activists have demanded that issues pertaining to female foeticide be included in the syllabus of state-run schools.
Schoolchildren may soon learn about the intriguing story of the missing girl child. Activists have demanded that issues pertaining to female foeticide be included in the syllabus of state-run schools.
“While the National Council of Education, Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus at the Central level finds a detailed mention of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques Act and its implementation, state schools have not included any material to create awareness about the issue among schoolchildren. We are pressing for such an inclusion with the state government,” said Varsha Deshpande, convenor of the Lek Ladki Abhiyan.
As early as 2004, the Human Resource Development ministry had initiated steps to include issues concerning female foeticide in CBSE and NCERT textbooks. “It’s necessary that such an inclusion takes place. A proposal to such effect will be initiated in the upcoming state assembly session,” said Bhai Jagtap, Congress legislator.
More than 14 citizen groups from across the state have joined the movement to appeal to the state government to ameliorate the state of the girl child. The activists are also demanding that the state commission for women in Maharashtra should appoint a chairman with immediate effect. “The state women’s commission has been headless for the last four years. A lot of times the police are insensitive to women’s issues, in such a case if a woman is forced to abort her baby girl she has nowhere to go to register a complaint,” said Asha Bhoir of Ashadeep, a women’s support group.
Since 2009, of the 111 complaints registered against doctors and sonography centres for flouting PCPNDT norms, 41 have been convicted. “The state government has still lost 77 cases due to lack of proper evidence collection and filing of a weak case against the accused. The judiciary and the investigation machinery has to get their act right,” said Deshpande.
For 2011, the child sex ratio stood at 874 girls for each 1,000 boys for the Mumbai City district census. That is down significantly from 922 in the 2001 census.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}