NEW DELHI, Oct 30: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi will hold the first round of regional consultations on ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme in Chandigarh tomorrow with a meeting with 27 District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners from the Northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. This will be the first round of regional consultations following the rollout of the ambitious scheme of the NDA Government, prior to its formal launch scheduled at a later date by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official statement here said. Ms Gandhi will deliver the inaugural address at the consultation which will deliberate on the implementation modalities of District Action Plans under the scheme. The scheme was announced to arrest the alarming decline in the child sex ratio (CSR) defined as the number of girls per thousand of boys between 0-6 years of age. The CSR declined from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 and further to 918 in 2011. The nodal ministry for the joint initiative is the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry and the Ministries of Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development are partner ministries. The consultation will also be attended by officials from the three ministries and Prime Minister’s Office. During the consultation, an overview will be had of the implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC & PNDT) Act, 1994. The critical components of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme, namely media campaign and multi-sectoral action in selected districts with adverse child sex ratios, the scheme guidelines and various other matters will also be discussed. The ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ initiative lays focus on strict enforcement of PC & PNDT Act by the Health and Family Welfare ministry, ensuring girl child-friendly standards in schools including strengthening of school management committees, creation of forums like Balika Manch to encourage participation of girls, re-enrolment of drop-out girls in secondary schools, ensuring availability of functional toilets by the HRD ministry (School Education) and capacity-building and sensitisation of government officials concerned, grassroots functionaries, elected representatives, promote early registration of pregnancy through motivation and incentivising mothers to register their pregnancy in the first trimester among others, the release added. (UNI)
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