New Delhi:(Page3 News Network)-Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development and former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam awarded children who have won the national slogan writing competition on the National Girl Child Day, here today. Smt. Tirath and the Chief Guest for the function, Dr. Abdul Kalam awarded the winners of the national slogan writing competition. The first prize winners were given prize of Rs. 50,000; the second and third prize winners were given Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 25,000 each. For the Hindi slogans, the first prize was awarded to Kum. K K Chandralekha of Bangalore and second prize went to Master Swapnil Jain from Jabalpur. The third prize of Rs. 25,000 each was given away to Master Praveen Jabar of Chattisgarh and Kum. Saumya Sharma of Jaipur. In the English category Kum. Kanupriya Sharma won the first prize and Kum. Debangee Roy of Kolkata won the second prize. The third prize was shared equally by Master Anmol Rathod of Jammu and Kum. Veerta Singh of Kurukshetra, Haryana. More than 4000 students in the age group of 14-18 participated in the slogan writing competition. This was organized by the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW), under the Ministry of WCD.
Speaking at the occasion, the Smt. Krishna Tirath said that while children are the future of the nation, it is a cause of national concern that the child sex ratio has been showing a declining trend. The decline in the affluent sections of the society is worrisome, she pointed out. This trend does not portend a healthy future for the society and the country, she added. Declining child sex ratio and child marriages are not isolated events, the Minister said. They both point to and emerge from the low respect for women in the Indian society. Cultural preference for male child, combined with technological advances which have made availability of cheap ultrasound machines easy to procure have resulted in increasing female foeticide. The Ministers narrated instances from some villages from Rajasthan where the newly born girl children are killed immediately after birth, because of the cultural preference for the male child. She said that the Ministry of WCD is in the process of bringing out a National Plan of Action for abetting the falling child sex ratio through a comprehensive action plan with the support of all concerned Ministries, such as Health, Human Resource Development, Drinking water and Sanitation etc.
In order to empower women and protect the girl child, the Minister elaborated on the schemes and initiatives taken up by the Ministry of WCD such as SABLA and the ICDS which has resulted in better nutrition and education among the children and young and adolescent women. Smt. Tirath also elaborated on the newly formed Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 where stringent punishment has been provided for sexual assault on children.
