Delhiites join hands to save girl child

In the run-up to National Girl Child Day on January 24, the ministry of women and child development held a rally in Malviya Nagar and Hauz Rani in south Delhi.

“The theme for this year's week-long campaign is Adverse Sex Ratio and Female Foeticide," said Rajiv Kale, director, WCD. At least 1,600 representatives of NGOs, resident welfare associations, women's groups, anganwadi workers and children participated in the rally.

The participants went to a gurdwara, a temple and a mosque, where several religious leaders spoke against female foeticide.

"The practice of female foeticide is a result of patriarchal mindset and property relations. “As the Indian laws give equal share to females in property, the insecurity among men leads to killing of the girl child even before she is born. People are learning about new techniques and misusing them. We tried to include representatives from many faiths to make a larger impact against female foeticide," said Kale.

Delhi has one of the lowest sex ratio in the country with provisional Census 2011 putting the number of girl children at 866 per 1,000.  "The government cannot do much about female foeticide in the state because both doctors and parents are involved in sex determination. We do not get reports of the crime," said Kiran Walia, minister, WCD.

"Things have changed from earlier times. But these campaigns are important for further improvement. We hope to create more impact with this campaign," said Rajeshwari Rawat, supervisor, anganwadi, Malviya Nagar.