Bhiwani: , Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme in Haryana, a key scheme that aims to address the dipping child sex ratio and empower the girl child in the country.
Addressing the event, Modi said, “As a society we all have a responsibility. We have to be aware.” Stressing on the importance of girls in the family and society, the PM said, “We do not have the right to kill the girl child.”
Urging people to change their mindset, PM Modi said, “The thought that only a son will take care of you during your old age is incorrect.” What we are pledging to do today won’t change things fast, it takes time for people’s mindset to change, PM Modi said.
“People want educated daughters-in-law but think several times before educating their daughters. How can this go on,” the PM asked.
“If we don’t realise the crisis brought by female foeticide, our coming generations will face a major problem,” the PM said, while urging the countrymen to take a pledge to oppose female foeticide and other social evils practiced against girl child.
India’s PM is standing in front of you as a beggar. I have come here to beg for the life of the girl child, Modi said.
In a direct message to the doctors, PM Modi said, “To them, I say, society has made you a doctor to save lives, to get rid of pain, illness not to kill girl children.”
He also thanked Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, Haryana Chief Minister Manhor Lal Khattar and Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit for being part of the massive programme that aims to improve the child sex ratio (CSR).
Madhuri ji is here with her mother is unwell but she is in Panipat. She is here with a message to save the girl child, the PM said while referring to the Bollywood diva.
The Chief Minster went around the exhibition and inquired about the schemes and programmes of various departments displayed at the exhibition.
Khattar, while presiding over a meeting of the district officers, had said yesterday the “declining sex ratio in Haryana and the country is a cause of concern and the programme would seek to correct the imbalance”.
According to the 2011 Census, the number of females per 1,000 males in Haryana in 2011 stands at 879.
