International Women’s Day just passed by and many bureaucrats in the country rose to the occasion to greet women achievers and take steps towards their empowerment and safety. IAS officer Nishant Yadav, the District Magistrate of Karnal in Haryana, attended a district-level celebration on the auspicious day in which he interacted with women achievers and also facilitated students with cash rewards.
Not only this, the officer also initiated two initiatives on the same day which will surely help in empowering women and promoting them to an advanced level. Crime against women in states like Haryana has been a major issue, mostly due to the gap in the sex ratio and of course, while following the patriarchal system where the son holds the central stage of the family.
To counter these back-draws and by changing the set mentality of people, such women-centric initiatives are being taken by officers like him.
ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
While speaking with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Yadav said “The main issue which the state faced initially was the low sex ratio, caused mainly by sex determination and termination of pregnancy on sex selection basis. To counter such ill-practices, the government is following a two-pronged approach.
“Firstly, strict enforcement of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act is being followed in Haryana and all its districts. Under this, a decoy is often used to get relevant information about the person who is committing the crime, after which strict action is taken against the accused. The informant is also given an amount of Rs 1 Lakh for providing relevant information. Secondly, steps are taken to spread information regarding the prohibition of such crimes, which is done by interacting with women achievers and facilitating them”, he added.
Keeping this approach in mind, Mr. Yadav attended a programme to meet some inspirational women in the district and interact with them.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY PROGRAMME
The programme, on International Women’s Day (March 8), was held in Karnal to award the village which recorded the highest sex ratio in the district. The programme was organized by the administration to reduce the ill practices which affect the sex-ration massively. Mr. Yadav said, “Among all the villages, ‘Bahari’ village stood out as it recorded the highest sex-ratio in the district with 1305 girls to 1000 boys. The village was awarded the ‘Best Village Award’. We also facilitated the three toppers of the district with a cash reward amounting to Rs. 1.5 lakh.”
“This initiative was taken to appreciate the efforts made by the people of the village and to promote it so that other villages follow the same path. The awards which were given to the three toppers will also motivate other girls to study more,” he added.
Every village in the district has Anganwadi centres, and the workers who work in these centres are put to use for tracking and tracing pregnant women, to check if everything is being conducted as per the norms. These workers are being directed to track the pregnant women till they complete the institutional delivery. Mr. Yadav said, “This helps us in maintaining the sex ratio in the district and to catch those people who are indulged in illegal practices.”
OTHER INITIATIVES
Apart from this, the district administration has also taken a few more initiatives that can help in promoting women in their respective villages. While speaking about these initiatives, Mr. Yadav said “The district is divided into eight blocks and in every block their exist many villages. We have launched a scheme in which we will choose a specific village out of these eight blocks and ask the families to replace the house nameplate with the name of the eldest daughter in the family. Secondly, the streets of the village will be named after the topper of the village.”
Such noble initiatives have also been taken in other parts of the country before and is now being replicated in Karnal as well. Mr. Yadav ended the conversation with a message on International Women’s Day: “The girl child should be provided with all the facilities and should be treated equally to men. This is also a precise reason why the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme was launched in the country. Slowly and steadily, the mindset of people is also shifting in states like Haryana and this is definitely a right direction to move in.”
There is no denying the truth in what Mr Yadav says.
