Haryana to involve transgender community to celebrate birth of girls across state

The Haryana government has launched an initiative under which members of the transgender community will visit homes where a girl child is born, ”just as they traditionally do when a boy takes birth, to celebrate her birth with the family.

Chairing the weekly meeting of the State Task Force (STF) for improving sex ratio in Haryana, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Sudhir Rajpal on Tuesday directed the officials concerned that the transgender community be actively involved in celebrating the birth of girls across the state.

The meeting highlighted that the government's sustained efforts have yielded encouraging results as the state's sex ratio has improved to 907” during January 1 to July 31 this year, up from 899 during the corresponding period last year.

As part of the initiative, members of the transgender community will visit the homes where a girl is born and present a certificate of Rs 21,000 invested with the LIC under the 'Aapki Beti, Hamari Beti' scheme to the family of the child.

For this, the Haryana government will also incentivize the transgender community and a minimum amount of Rs 1,100 is proposed to be given to such transgender persons, Rajpal said.

The entire campaign will be run under the supervision of the concerned chief medical officer (CMO) of the district.

The meeting focused on intensifying efforts to curb illegal abortions and further improve the state's sex ratio under the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' campaign, an official statement said.

Rajpal emphasized the need for stringent enforcement against illegal abortions, instructing officials to take punitive measures, including revoking the licences of doctors found complicit.

He said the state is implementing reverse tracking of all Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) and abortion cases beyond 12 weeks, particularly where women already have one or more daughters.

Over a week ago, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had said at an event in Ambala that 'Aapki Beti, Hamari Beti' Yojana has benefitted over 5.36 lakh girls by providing Rs 21,000 to eligible families on the birth of daughters.

Under the scheme, a sum of Rs 21,000 is invested with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in the name of first girl child of SC/BPL families and second child of family belonging to any category, subject to various eligibility conditions laid down under the scheme.

The objective of this scheme is to improve child sex ratio and to ensure survival, proper health and promote education of girls in the state.

In July alone, 32 FIRs were registered in suspected reverse tracking cases, leading to 32 arrests. Additionally, FIRs are under process in four more cases, and 38 notices have been issued to private hospitals and clinics for suspected violations, the statement said.

In the meeting, Rajpal ordered a crackdown against IVF centres involved in sex-determination tests and illegal abortion practices. It was decided that all implantations through the IVF must be registered under Antenatal Care for improved surveillance.

The additional chief secretary also asked the police department to actively coordinate with the health department teams for tracking illegal abortion centres and arresting the culprits, while also seeking a report on the progress achieved in the FIRs filed till now by next week.

Women and Child Development Department officials informed during the meeting that an awareness advertisement on the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' campaign is being prepared and will soon be aired in cinema halls across the state.

Health Department Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission, Ripudaman Singh Dhillon, and senior officers of various departments were present in the meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)