Monday, January 4, 2010

NCC cadets pledge to fight female foeticide

Lucknow: NCC cadets, on Monday, pledged to fight against the social evil of female foeticide. A formal pledge ceremony was organised by the 63rd UP Battalion of NCC at the Army Parade Ground wherein the cadets, officers and assistant officers pledged that they would never indulge in this heinous act of sex-selection. Not only this, they would also work against elimination of this social evil, pledged the cadets. In his address to the cadets, Commanding Officer, Major Sudhir Kshrisagar said that it was quite ironical that people worship goddess Durga, Mother Mary and Bibi Fatima and then kill unborn girls in the womb.

U'khand allocates Rs 16 cr for Nandadevi Kanya scheme

Dehradun, Jan 3 (PTI) Uttarakhand government has allocated Rs 16 crore for the Nandadevi Kanya scheme, aimed at ending the gender divide, in the current financial year, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said. Under the scheme, newborn girl child from Below Poverty Line families are given a fixed deposit cheque of Rs 5,000 that can be encashed when the girl attains 18 years of age, Nishank said, adding that the government has allocated Rs 16 crore for the plan.Only two girl children from each family can avail the scheme. No loans can be taken against the fixed deposit, he said.The scheme was launched to check child marriage, female foeticide and to provide women empowerment, Nishank added.

20 villages of Punjab pledge against female foeticide

Punjab, along with gurdwara committees and youth clubs of the respective villages, got together and pledged to fight against female foeticide and growing menace of drug addiction amongst youth during a seminar organised at Daad village here. The seminar was orgnised by Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle at a gurdwara, in which 20 villages falling in the vicinity of Pakhowal took part.

The village panchayats also decided to boycott the “kudimaar” (girl killer) villages, if the sex ratio in these villages was found to be skewed. They pledged that they would not marry their children in villages that killed female children in womb. “We will not make matches with boys and girls of ‘girl killer’ villages. This is our resolve,” was the punch line of sarpanch Sukhdeep Singh.

He spoke about growing cases of female foeticide in the state. “Girls are our fortune. We need to understand that,” he said adding that the city and its surrounding towns were also contributing to the menace. He added that panchayats should step in and discourage the sale of medical drugs that were sold by chemists unabatedly in villages. He also said panchayats should take a pledge to fight against drug peddling.

Punjab tops in number of female foeticide cases

New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) Punjab tops the list in number of female foeticide cases reported over the last three years with Rajasthan coming next. The country as a whole reported 294 cases during the same period.According to figures released by the National Crime Records Bureau, in Punjab, 81 cases were registered for female foeticide while for Rajasthan the corresponding number was 51. Madhya Pradesh registered 21 cases, Haryana 18 and Chattisgarh 24.In Rajasthan, the number of cases registered has shown a steady decline since the last three years with 25, 16 and 10 cases being registered in 2006, 2007 and 2008, Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. The National Capital saw seven cases registered in 2006, four in 2007 and two in 2008.