NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury on Wednesday launched a nation-wide campaign to reverse the "alarming'' decline in the ratio of women in the population in many parts of the country.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of the International Women's Day, she said: "It is a tragedy that every year half million girl children are being killed and prevented from being born, ironically with the help of modern tools of science and technology leading to the decline in the ratio of women in the population. We have got to put a stop to this. Beginning today, my Ministry would observe the next 10 years as the Decade of the Survival of the Girl Child.''

"Most delinquent"

Noting that the Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and eastern Uttar Pradesh were the "most delinquent,'' she said the phenomenon was more prevalent among the educated and the rich than the illiterate and the poor.

"It is shocking that the declining sex ratio has already led to a situation where brothers shared a wife and in some cases even fathers and sons shared a wife in several parts of the country. This could have serious consequences as the genes would all get mixed up resulting in ill-health and other complications.''

Further empowerment

The campaign would focus on further empowerment and creation of greater employment opportunities for women, besides raising awareness on the importance of having women for the welfare of the society. It will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministries of the Human Resource Development and Health and Family Welfare and State Governments.

"We have to remove the mindset that women had a negative economic value for the family. We are at present in the last year of the 10th Plan. The approach to the 11th Plan would focus on the survival of the girl child as the central theme.''

She said that while her Ministry would work on all aspects of women and child development, it would focus on the issue of survival of the girl child. "The declining sex ratio is the most shocking because the geographical spread of the problem coincides with areas of growth, economic prosperity, agricultural surplus and high per capital incomes. This being the most shocking development, my Ministry needs to address this first.''

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