As a major initiative under the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme district administration today celebrated the maiden Beti Janamahotsav at Government Degree College Kathua.Union Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh was the chief guest whereas MLA Kathua Rajiv Jasrotia was the guest of honor on the occasion.Dr Jitendra Singh while addressing the gathering said that Government of India has initiated several programmes such as ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ to uplift the status of girl child and further empower them to live a dignified life. He termed sex determination as menace which is against the rich tradition of Indian value system. While appreciating the initiatives of the district administration Kathua for taking innovative steps to check this menace and generating awareness about the declining child sex ratio Dr Singh said that awareness holds the key to success of such programmes which require greater public participation .
Dr Jitendra Singh further said that several key projects have been taken up in the district and with the completion of Keerian Gandyal and Pandori bridge, the connectivity scenario will be improved to the greater extent. He added that bio Tech Park at SIDCO Ghati will be the first biotech park of the state and with its completion the avenue of employment can be further improved.He also said that Kathua will soon have states first Seed Processing Unit for which Union Agriculture Ministry has given its final nod.MLA Kathua Rajiv Jasrotia while speaking on the occasion said that Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is an important scheme to uplift the status of women besides an effort to improve the life expectancy of female child which is need of the hour especially in our district where child sex ratio is recorded relatively low.Earlier Deputy Commissioner Kathua Ramesh Kumar in his welcome address said that Kathua administration has rolled out calendar of awareness activities under PAHAL initiative. . He further informed that under Protsahan initiative of district administration 230 girls students have been adopted by private/public schools.
He also apprised that to make PAHAL initiative a successful campaign, ‘Laadli Diwas’ is celebrated on 19th of every month and several key measures have been adopted by involving departments viz Education, Social Welfare, ICDS, Panchayats, NYK, Sports, Information, Municipality, Rural Development, Transport, DRDA, DUDA, Bankers and Industries etc to work in tandem to disseminate the message.He said other initiatives like Girl’s sports athletic meet at block and district level, sponsorship for poor girls for higher education/sports by corporate houses, mega awareness camps at tehsil level, adoption of gender critical villages are key attributes of the Pahal initiative. Beside this, award are given to girls for best performance in every field, girl of the month, signature campaign, baby shows besides female skill development are other initiatives taken up by the district administration.
Toll-free women health helpline in the district hospital where a gynecologist is available from 10am to 12pm every Saturday and availability of ASHA worker from 10am-4pm on other week days has gained popularity in this short span of time,DDC added .A theme based cultural programme by Romalo Ram and Party, college and school students besides theme skits remained key attractions during the programme which were highly applauded by the audience.During the programme babycare kits among mothers of fully immunized girl child were given. Under the Pehal initiative cheques were also distributed among the meritorious girl students. Chief guest also felicitated best anganwadi/ashaworker who have made exemplary contribution in immunization programme. The chief guest also gave away education kits to the girl students adopted by private/ public schools.