Date:19/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/19/stories/2005051903660500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Steps urged to protect girl child

Staff Reporter

Plea to cover all Dalit and tribal hamlets under the health programme

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Forum to Protect Girl Child has urged the Governor, Sushil Kumar Shinde, to direct the Government to initiate steps to ensure safety and security of the girl child.

In a memorandum presented to the Governor on Tuesday, representatives of the women's NGO wanted the Government to immediately fill the vacant posts of doctors and paramedical staff in the State. The forum felt that all Dalit and tribal hamlets should be covered under the health programme.

Birth registration

It demanded the Government to initiate steps to register all births at panchayats in tune with the recommendations of the National Commission for Women. It said that protection committee should be constituted in all backward regions to prevent female infanticide.

The forum representative, V. Rukmini Rao, appealed to the Government to intervene and advise the Government to take note of the alleged move to file charges against the IAS officer, Shalini Mishra, in the wake of the probe into adoption scandal in which the wife of a top police official was allegedly involved.

The forum expressed concern at the reports of sale of girl child and incidents of female infanticide. They alleged that unregulated setting up of scanning centres enabled sex detection test, which led to killing of the female foetus.