Nitish wants girls to learn martial arts

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that the only way out to check increasing crime against women was to make each and every girl competent enough in self-defence techniques.

“And this can be done if we accord top priority in bringing every school in the State under martial arts umbrella. We will provide at least one coach to each school to impart training to girls in judo and karate,” said Nitish while inaugurating the 101st Bihar Diwas celebrations programme here.

Buoyed by the success of 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayat, Nitish outlined his plan for more woman empowerment. “We have already set up a separate woman battalion, and the female cops, during the passing day parade, proved that they were second to none,” he said.

But other than woman cops, the girls should also develop the skills of judo and karate so that they could teach the eve-teasers a lesson, he added.

Asserting that the martial arts training in Bihar will create a benchmark in the country, Nitish said: “Yesterday, I saw the martial arts exercises by 2,400 girls students at Moinul Haq stadium in the State Capital. I will be happy if 40,000 girl students perform the same exercise during Bihar Diwas celebrations at Gandhi Maidan next year.”

With more and more girls going to school by bicycle in Bihar, it’s all the more imperative that they learn the art of self-defence, he reiterated adding how bicycle scheme had motivated more girls to join school. “Till five years back, only 1.7 lakh girls went to school. Now their number has touched 6.5 lakh mark,” he added.