Maharashtra proposes treating sex selective abortions as murder

The Maharashtra government has sent a proposal to the Centre to treat sex selective abortions as murder and make the act a punishable offence."A proposal has been received from Maharashtra government on 14 August to treat the act of sex selective abortions as murder and make the offence punishable under IPC Section 302 (life imprisonment)," Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Sudip Bandyopadhyay told the Rajya Sabha today.[caption id="attachment_433960" align="alignleft" width="380"] Reuters[/caption]On whether the central government will give its nod for the same, he said, "There is no such plan at present...The Centre has requested the state governments to intensify drive against female foeticide through effective implementation of the PC and PNDT Act."Replying to a query on audit of National Rural Health Mission, Bandyopadhyay said, "Health Ministry has requested the CAG on Nov 2011 for conducting annual transaction audit of the NRHM in the states from 2011-12 to identify existing gaps and facilitate corrective measures."In reply to a question on malnutrition among girl child, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said prevalence of "severe acute malnutrition among girls under five years of age" is 43.1 per cent.PTI