NEW DELHI, July 28: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi today severely criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for refusing to implement the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save daughter, educate daughter) campaign and described ”extremely” poor showing of Kolkata district in showing the adverse sex ratio.
”West Bengal is the only state that has not implemented Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao with the result that Kolkata has shown extreme decline in sex ratio,” Ms Gandhi said replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.
Her reaction came when a Trinamool Member pointed out that the West Bengal Government has bagged UNO award for its Kanyashree scheme for development of the girl child.
Agreeing with what the Member said, the Minister, however, remarked, ” I do not see any reason why the West Bengal Chief Minister should not adopt the scheme.” She appealed to Ms Bannerjee to do so.
Ms Gandhi said Sikkim North had done the best among the chosen 100 districts in terms of improving the sex ratio in favour of the girl child. She named Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan among states which have done well.
Besides Kolkata, the district which have performed poorly in improving the sex ratio include Etawah, Etah, Farrukhabad, Bijnore, Saharanpur, Champawat, Dehradun, Chamoli and Hardwar.
The Minister praised Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan for its novel initiatives in implementing the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, as a result of which, the sex ration improved from 730-1000 to 930-100. Replying to other supplementary questions, she said the scheme had been extremely successful because of the participation of the people and Government efforts to create mass awareness through various media about it. (UNI)
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