Punjab, Harayana step up to end female foeticide

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Chandigarh, Mar 21: A novel scheme to end female foeticide in Punjab and Haryana and to improve female literacy is on the cards, for which funding would come from the Centre. Punjab has male-female ratio of 1000:798, while Haryana has the male-female population ratio of 1000:819 according to the Census department. Alarmed at the disparity, the two states have asked the Centre to fund a scheme, which would give a boost to education of girls in these two states.

According to a United Nations survey conducted in 2007, more than 2,000 unborn girls are aborted every day in the country. In the last two decades, about 1 crore girls had been aborted. The scheme would be started in 11 educationally backward blocks including Punjab and Haryana. Nearly Rs 10 crore is estimated to be spent on the scheme in the year of launch and it would be benefit about 1 lakh girls in the launch year itself.

Finance minister of Haryana, Birender Singh told FE that the government was laying special focus on schemes on women and described Budget 2008-09 as a ‘gender budget’.

Sources in the social welfare department of Punjab said that developed countries like the USA had 1,031 women as against 1,000 men and Japan had 1,041 women. The world average was 1,045 women per 1,000 men.

According to sources, under the proposed scheme, the Centre has decided to provide financial assistance to the girl child, provided she has 85% attendance in school and does not marry till she attains the age of 18. The funds for the scheme would be provided by the Union ministry of women and child development and the scheme is likely to be implemented in Punjab and Haryana from next academic session beginning April, 2008.