Was called burden at birth: Irani

Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani on Friday revealed that at the time of her birth, she was cursed as a “burden” by someone.

“I am sharing it for the first time that when I was born, someone hinted to my mother that ‘beti to bojh hoti hai (daughter is a burden)’ and therefore she should kill me.

But my mother was brave and she did not do that because of which today I am standing here in front of you,” Irani said when asked about female foeticide.

The practice should be curbed and it was a priority programme for the government, she said. If you teach a girl, then you are not just imparting education to a woman but to a family which will later help in nation building, she said.

To a query on different boards and curricula in various states, Irani said the issue of uniformity in education would be addressed in National Education Policy (NEP).