To promote girl child, Delhi govt plans award

The award will be given by Delhi’s Pre Conception, Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (PC-PNDT) cell to motivate families and boost the sex ratio in Delhi, which stood at 902 females born against every 1,000 males in 2016.

Four to five families from each of Delhi’s 11 districts will get the ‘Star family award’ entailing a cash prize of ₹1 lakh for not showing a preference for sons.

In India, there are just 919 females children between the ages of 0 and 6 for every 1,000 males of the same age, according to Census 2011 data. (Picture for representation)

The award will be given by the state’s Pre Conception, Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (PC-PNDT) cell to motivate families and boost the sex ratio in Delhi, which stood at 902 females born against every 1,000 males in 2016, according to a report on registration of births and deaths in Delhi.

In India, there are just 919 females children between the ages of 0 and 6 for every 1,000 males of the same age, according to Census 2011 data.

“The proposal for the award has been accepted and we have partial funding for it in place. Now, we are in the process of developing standard operating procedures for the district officials to select the families,” said Dr Nitin Kumar, state programme officer for PC PNDT.

“This could mean couples who have protected their girl despite opposition and hostility from the family or those who have struggled to get the required medical attention to help their girl. We have seen families not take as much care of a sick girl as compared to a boy,” said Dr Kumar.

After a cabinet approval, the department has started work on the informer-decoy reward scheme, under which people who inform the government of centres performing illegal sex determination will get a cash award of ₹50,000 and women who help them in conducting the raids ₹1,50,000.