Haryana govt to award 3 districts for improved sex ratio

Chandigarh: The Haryana government will confer state-level award for year 2015-16 to district administrations of Narnaul, Bhiwani and Jhajjar for efforts to improve sex ratio.[caption id="attachment_2658604" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representative image. AFP[/caption]The awards would be given away by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar at a state-level sports meet and Mahila Samman Samaroh' (women's felicitation programme) to be organised at Rajiv Gandhi Khel Parisar, in Panipat district on 9th March.The function will be organised by the Women and Child Development department to mark the International Women’s Day, an official release said here on Saturday.Cash awards of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh would be given away to districts of Narnaul, Bhiwani and Jhajjar, respectively, Women and Child Development Minister Kavita Jain said.These districts have been selected on the basis of improvement in sex ratio between 1st January 2015 and 31st December, 2015, as per the report of Health department and strategies adopted by the Deputy Commissioners concerned.She said that during this period, the sex ratio in Narnaul had improved by 73 points from 745 to 818 girls per 1000 boys.Similarly, in Bhiwani, the ratio went upto 870 from earlier 834, and in Jhajjar, it had improved by 28 points from 824 to 852."The award money would be utilised by the districts for strengthening initiatives to tackle female foeticide, promotion and development of women and girl child, changing mindset and perception about gender and the status of women in the society," Jain said."It would also be utilized to organise educational camps to generate awareness, distribution of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material, broadcast of educational messages and covering the gaps in health services to be provided to expecting women," the Minister said.PTI