Date:05/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/05/stories/2008030554570800.htm

New Delhi

A rally to protect the girl child

Staff Reporter

Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

FOR THE GIRL CHILD: Centre for Social Research activists campaigning against female foeticide at Punjabi Bagh in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: To protect the girl child and protest against the evil practice of female foeticide, the Centre for Social Research organised a rally at Punjabi Bagh here on Tuesday.

Part of the “Meri Shakti, Meri Beti” project that was launched by the Centre for Social Research and the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry last year, participants at the rally took a pledge to protect the girl child.

According to Census-2001, the sex ratio in the country stood at 927 girls per 1,000 boys. In Delhi, the lowest sex ratio measured was in the south-west of the city, down alarmingly from 904 in 1991 to 846 in 2001. The Census analysis also shows that the sex ratio in the country was dangerously turning masculine.

Warning that only a collective force of citizen participation can help combat female foeticide in society, Centre for Social Research Director Ranjana Kumari said: “The shameful practice of sex-selective abortions can only be checked when the whole community takes the responsibility of protecting the girl child and not just a handful of people working towards the empowerment of women.”

Recognising the importance of engaging all sectors of society on the issue of female foeticide, the “Meri Shakti, Meri Beti” project involves direct participation and cooperation of households, community members, non-government organisations and medical fraternity.