Tarn Taran district makes it special for girl child

Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, February 27

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development will honour the Tarn Taran district administration on March 8 for its efforts under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme. It’s the only district from Punjab and among the 10 across the country to be selected.

Tarn Taran has been picked in the “Effective Community Engagement” category, under which the administration organised awareness rallies, door-to-door campaigning, signature campaigns and community meetings, besides asking people to take an oath to encourage the girl child’s education and oppose female foeticide/infanticide.

The administration launched a tree plantation drive dedicated to girls. Stickers with their names were pasted on the gates of houses under the “Ghar Ki Pehchan, Beti Ke Naam” campaign. Functions to mark the birth of girls, including Lohri events, were organised.

Self-help groups and panchayats with the highest sex ratio at birth in the district have been honoured. The administration also sensitised people through print, electronic and social media.

The district’s child sex ratio increased from 880 in 2015-16 to 889 in 2016-17.

The campaign took off when DPS Kharbanda was the Deputy Commissioner. The present incumbent, Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal, has taken it forward.