Each child is a ray of hope towards a bright and prosperous future and the incumbent administration is sensitive towards the rights and protection of each child of our society.This was stated by Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan, after inaugurating Children cum Shelter home for girls at Trikuta Nagar, Jammu as part of National Girl Child week celebration.Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Bipul Pathak, MD ICPS/SRCW Shabnam Shah Kamili, Officer on Special Duty, Mohammad Ashraf Hakkan, Social Welfare Officer besides other senior officers and officials of concerned department were present on the occasion.While speaking on the occasion, Advisor said that ICPS is a centrally sponsored scheme aimed at building a protective environment for children in difficult circumstances as well as other vulnerable children through government-civil society partnership. The objective of the ICPS is to bring together multiple existing child protection schemes of the ministry under one comprehensive umbrella and integrate additional interventions for protecting children and preventing harm, he added.Advisor said that the society as a whole has to come together to end this scourge so as to empower the girls and give them their due share in all walks of life. He said that women are leading the way in all walks of life and that opinion unfavourable towards girl child has to be changed.“Collective efforts are being initiated at UT and district level to address the issue of declining child sex ratio” the Advisor said.Advisor was apprised that ICPS has established seven new children homes and shelter homes in Jammu, Srinagar, Anantnag, Budgam and Baramulla districts on a cluster model basis in the UT of J&K. He was further apprised that these homes have been provided with special infrastructure in order to cater to the social and psychological needs of the children. Each shelter home has a counselor to look after the mental well being of the children besides staff members such as house mothers and house fathers in order to replicate a homely environment.Later, Advisor also inspected the shelter home and checked the infrastructure and facilities being provided to the children at the home.A skit was also presented by Nav Durga Kala Manch named “Beti hai to Kal hai” on Beti Bachao Beti Padhao theme.