Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made an impassioned plea for the rights of the girl child here in Panipat, where he launched the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' campaign.
"The Prime Minister of the country is begging you to save the lives of the girl child. What we are pledging to do today won't change things quickly, it will take long for people's mindset to change. For your dreams to take off, you need both boys and girls as the wings; so that your dreams come true," said Prime Minister Modi.
"There was a time when girls were drowned in large vessels of milk, but we are worse than that too, we kill in wombs. Can there be a horror worse than killing a child just because it is a girl? Whatever sector you analyze, the percentage of women surpasses that of men," he added.
Reminding doctors of their duty towards the society, Prime Minister Modi said, "To doctors I say, society has made you a doctor to save lives, to get rid of pain, illness; not to kill girl children."
The Prime Minister added that in every sector today women had surpassed men and there was no greater horror than killing a child just because it was a girl.
"Let us not look back and shift blame, lets wake up and work together to get rid of this scourge," said Prime Minister Modi.
The 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' campaign, which means 'Save the girl child, educate the girl child', aims to address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) through a mass campaign across the country targeted at changing societal mindsets and creating awareness about the criticality of the issue.
It will have focussed intervention and multi-sectoral action in 100 districts with low Child Sex Ratio.
It is a major inter-ministerial initiative of the Government of India bringing together Ministries, institutions and civil societies in a rational effort to reverse the declining sex ratio.
