Kerala - Kannur   

Anti-dowry drive to be intensified

Fighting a menace: Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy inaugurating the State-level Anti-Dowry Day campaign at S.N. College, Kannur, on Monday.

KANNUR: Health and Social Welfare Minister P.K. Sreemathy has said that the government will strengthen the drive against the dowry system.

Inaugurating the State-level Anti-Dowry Day campaign on the Sree Narayana College campus here on Monday, Ms. Sreemathy said that present actions against the dowry system were not very effective in eradicating the menace totally. At present, dowry cases were being handled by Revenue Divisional Officers, she said adding that the government was planning to entrust the task to District Probationary Officers. The dowry system could be completely stopped if the society was committed to the task, she added.

The Minister also said that a study had revealed that the number of girl children up to the age of five was coming down in the State. She said that it was impossible to say that there was no female foeticide in the State.

Instructions had been given to ensure strict examination of diagnostic centres that were covered by the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act before renewing their licenses, she said.

Ramachandran Kadannappally, MLA, presided over the function. Edakkad block panchayat president Nellyat Raghavan, college principal P.C. Salim and college union chairman K. Arjunan spoke at the function.

The inaugural function was followed by classes to create awareness against the dowry system. Students of the college took a pledge against dowry.

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