Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

Collector threatens to withhold funds

By Our Staff Reporter

VELLORE, AUG. 3. The Vellore Collector, S. Gopalakrishnan, has said he is contemplating withholding additional funds to village panchayats that have a high incidence of female infanticide.

Pointing out that female infanticide was high in Kandili and Tirupattur, Mr. Gopalakrishnan warned that the administration would file criminal cases against parents who murder girl children.

The Collector was speaking at a seminar titled `Is the girl child a burden to the earth?' organised by the Field Publicity Office, Vellore, and the office of the Deputy Director of Health Services, Tirupattur, at Kandili on Thursday.

The Collector said the entire village, not just the mother, would be held guilty in cases of female infanticide.

Family members, relatives and the village as a whole were responsible for the killing of girl children.

However, he conceded that legal measures alone could not change the situation; only a change in mindset would root out the phenomenon.

Cradle baby scheme

Mr. Gopalakrishnan said the Government had so far received 42 children under the cradle baby scheme this year. Of them, 27 were girls.

He asked parents who wanted to benefit by the girl child protection scheme to directly approach social welfare extension officers, ignoring middlemen.

The Collector also called on women's organisations to protest against the practice of portraying women in bad light in advertisements, posters, television serials and films.

Monitoring by nurses

R. Narayanaswamy, Deputy Director of Health Services, Tirupattur, said 56 girl children had died in area covered by the Kunichi primary health centre (PHC) in Kandili panchayat union, while 39 girl children died in the Pudupettai PHC area during 2003-04. Village health nurses had been asked to continuously monitor new-born girl children, the official said.

T. Sivakumar, field publicity officer, Vellore, called upon women's groups to inform health officials of scan centres which violated the ban on sex determination tests.

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