Govt plans to greet birth of girl child

Govt plans to greet birth of girl child
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, JANUARY 23: Congratulations on your becoming the proud parents of a bonny baby girl.'' Cards carrying this message may greet excited parents all over the country, if the Union Ministry of Women and Child Welfare has its way.

The Ministry is planning a scheme to despatch congratulatory greetings to couples who attain parenthood with the birth of a girl child, Union Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare Sumitra Mahajan told mediapersons during an informal chat here on Thursday.

``The objective is to spread awareness that birth of a girl is a joyous occasion and not a reason to grieve,'' Mahajan said, adding that spreading awareness was the only plausible way to remove discrimination against the girl child.

The greeting card is also expected to instill confidence in the mother who usually finds herself at the receiving end if a girl child is born. ``The mother is blamed for delivering a girl child as if it was within her means to determine the sex of the child in her womb,'' the ministerpointed out.

Faced with castigation from her in-laws, the young mother starts believing that the birth of a girl child is her folly and develops an inferiority complex. The greeting card is intended to remove that complex, Mahajan said.

She acknowledged that despite laws banning sex determination tests of the foetus, the practice was rampant. Tests were being conducted under the garb of detecting pre-natal deformities, she said.