SUMMARY

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF SAVING GIRL CHILD?

"We the youths of new generation must try to develop the whole world and our
nation"

Through this project I tried to make people aware about our nations mission,
'Save Girl Child'. Saving girl child is a major step to develop any country and
the whole world also as sex ratio, literacy rate and all these are declining day by
day.

Now the questions appear in our mind are- What are the causes of these all?
How can they be prevented? What do the people think about it? And so on. So
dont worry, we have provided all the information like the causes of declining
of girl child - infanticide, foeticide and the most important is the primitive and
negative thinking of people. We have also provided the information regarding
position of girls in past, in present, in India and in the whole world and how it
can be better in the future. We have also tried to find the opinion of different
people about it. There are also some games and quiz for your entertainment
through which you can also get a lot of information.

We hope that these will help you a lot, will change the primitive thinking of
people and will develop not only our country but the whole world

Place of Girls in the WORLD

There are an estimated 1,162,368,920 girls in the world as of 2010. This is

based on estimates from the US Census Bureaus International Database. This
number comprises the world female population from ages 0 to 19. Girls make
up 34% of the world female population and 17% of total world population for
this data set.

The situation of women and girls around the world is attaining elevated
attention in a number of national and international policy promises such as the
U.S. Global Health Initiative and the United Nation's Millennium Development
Goals. The World's Women and Girls 2011 Data Sheet has the current data on a
wide variety of indicators on the social and economic situation of women and
girls in more than 180 countries, with a focus on demography, reproductive
health, education, work, and public life. A special section on overwhelming
fortifications to gender equality is also recommended.

THE INDICATORS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Percept of women married by age 18.

Percept of married women using contraception (any method/modern method).

Percept of births attended by skilled personnel.

Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

Percept of adults ages 15-49 with HIV/AIDS (female/male).

Primary school completion rate (female/male).

Percept enrolled in secondary school (female/male).

Percept economically active ages 15+ (female/male).

Women as present of parliament.

Graphics explore issues such as:

Household decision-making.

Violence against women.

Ideal number of children.

PLACE OF GIRLS IN INDIA

"If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men
have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of
existence, it is India!"
1. Introduction- In older times Indian women had the place of slaves. Men
confined them within the four walls of home. In other words, Men lorded over
them and kept them under their thumb. The girls were taught to obey their
husbands blindly after their marriage.

2. Their position in free India- Now India is changing fast. Still the women are
treated as inferior to men. A female child, girl, is not welcomed in Indian
houses. She is looked upon as a curse in family. Parents think a girl a decree on
them. Hence girl is not treated in the manner in which the boy is treated. As
wife she is no better. She has always to obey her husband. She depends on her
husband even for bread. Even education could not bring change in the outlook
of the educated husband. An educated husband likes to keep his wife confined
within four walls. He is not willing to give her freedom to move out of the
home. She must get his permission to go out.

3. Some changes in the position of women- Free India is passing through many
changes. Social change is visible everywhere. The change in the condition of
women in the country is taking place, though the change is gradual. She is
coming into her own. She can no longer be kept as a domestic servant or a free
cook in the house. Now she has to play an important role in the development of
the country. She is getting higher education. She is surpassing boys in academic
excellence. No distinction of the past is now made in the matter of education
between boys and girls. Education is a promise to improve the position of
women in India.

4. Right to vote- In free India like man, woman has the equal right to vote. She
is therefore now coming out of the four walls to take an active part in public
affairs. She is growing self-assertive. Her voice is now as forceful as that of
man. She fights for her rights with boldness. No politician or leader can now
afford against her rights. She has an equal say or voice in making and unmaking
the government.

5. Certainly BETTER HER LOT- Hindu law has been amended and changed
greatly. Important changes have been made in the Hindu marriage act. Women
have been given the right to divorce in certain cases. The Hindu succession act
has given the daughters the right to paternal property. These changes have
raised the position of women in society.

6. ALL CAREERS ARE OPENED TO WOMEN- All careers and the doors of
services have been thrown open to women. They are taking to the professions of
doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, engineers, M.L.As, M.P.s, deputy ministers,
ministers, governors, ambassadors and what not.

Female Foeticide:

Sex-selective abortion (also referred to as son preference or female deselect ion)

are methods of sex-selection which are practised in areas where males are
respected over females. Sex-selective abortion refers to the concentrated
abortion of female foetuses; the foetus' sex may be determined by ultrasound
but also rarely by amniocentesis or another procedure.

Introduction- Contemporary Indian society acknowledges an intellectual

confidence in every individual's 'right to life and dignity. The rights relating to
the weaker & vulnerable sections of Indian society especially women and more
specially the girl child were contaminated. The twin social evils of female
foeticide & female infanticide were the main causes. Violence against women
exists in various forms, in all societies, the world over. In 1996 the world
health assembly recommended the fact that violence against women is a Public
Health problem and female foeticide is one preposterous demonstration of
violence against women. India is a country of 102.7 core population, out of
which 53.1 cores is of males and 49.6 cores is of females, clearly indicating a
deficit of 3.5 core women. The sex ratio is 933 women /1000 men and child sex
ratio is 927girls for 1000 boys (census of India, 2001). The demographic profile
of India clearly indicating the profoundness and widespread prevalence of this
social evil i.e. female foeticide. In Jaipur itself 3500 female foeticide per year
on average seen and where killing is no sin.

Female foeticide: It is also defined as aborting the female foetus after sex
determination test or prenatal diagnostic test which includes -

Ultra sonography
Foetoscopy
Placental tissue sampling
Amniocentesis

Effects of Foeticide:

Female foeticide: A social crime is very serious in today's generation. If this

practice continues, one day will come when there is no girl in this world. More
and more Indian families with one girl are aborting consecutive pregnancies
when protective tests show another female is on the way, according to a new
consideration. According to the statistics of India 2011, Child sex ratio drops to
lowest since Independence. Indicating a continuing preference for boys in
society, the child sex ratio in India has dropped to 914 females against 1,000
males - the bottom since aptitude - in the provisory 2011 Census report acquit
on March 31, 2011.

On April 20, 2011 a broadly respected and one of the oldest Islamic seminars in
Luck now has said that female foeticide was nothing less than a murder and was
not permitted in Islam. In a "fatwa", the Lucknow-based "Daryl Loom
Firangimahal" has said that it is "un-islamic" to abort the foetus after
determining its sex. "Islam does not permit abortion," said Maulana Khalid
Rashid Firangimahali, chief of the institution and a senior member of the All
India Muslim Personal Law Board, an apex organisation of the Muslim
community in the country. The "fatwa" was issued on Tuesday in response to a
query by one Dr Huma Khwaja, who wanted to know what the shariat (Islamic
law) stand is on termination of pregnancy after determining the sex of the
foetus.

FEMALE INFANTICIDE

What is infanticide?

Infanticide is the illegitimate killing of very young children. It is found in both

indigenous and sophisticated proficiencies around the world. Female infanticide
is the excogitate killing of girl babies. It is also illustrated as gender-selective
killing or "gynacide". Female infanticide is more conventional than male
infanticide, and in some countries, particularly India and China, is likely to have
significant repercussion on the balance of the sexes in the population. The
acumen behind it are almost always socializing, rather than religious:

The Causes:

Family economic condition

Anti-female bias

EFFECTS OF INFANTICIDE
The phenomenon of female infanticide is as ancient as many profencies, and has
likely accounted for millions of gender-selective deaths throughout history. It
remains a critical concern in a number of Third World countries today,
notably the two most populous countries on earth, China and India. In all cases,
specifically female infanticide reflects the low status accorded to women in
most parts of the world; it is arguably the most brutal and destructive
manifestation of the anti-female bias that pervades patriarchal societies.
Female infanticide is the intentional killing of baby girls due to the preference
for male babies and from the low value associated with the birth of females.

HISTORY

INTRODUCTION

We all are aware about the status of girls in the present scenario. Women not
only raised their glory in present but also in the past and will also continue to
progress in future. Women were being respected from the ancient times and
were treated as goddesses. But women respect is washed away with the time
and now she is shrunk in four walls of house as well as imprisoned in
conservative thinking of the society. If we take a glance in history then we can
find that women ruled over the country as well as over the whole world and
were worshiped as well as she struggled for her rights, freedom and
development.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

India is growing dynamically in all field. Today, the boom in economy,

innovative techniques and improved architecture has become nations dignity.
The country has seen advancements in all fields but against a girl child is still
preponderating in the country. This social misery is deep rooted in Indian
ideology and the most abominable fact is that the innovative and hard high end
technologies are heartlessly killing the Indian girl child.

Female foeticide and infanticide is not the only dissemination with a girl child
in the country. At every stage of life she is discriminated and neglected for basic
nutrition, education and living standard. When she was in the womb, she was
forced to miss the moment when she was supposed to enter the world. At the
time of birth her relatives pulled her back and wrung her neck. After killing her
she was thrown into a trash can.
During girlhood, her brother was charged with new shoes, dresses and books to
learn while she was gifted a broom, a wiper and lots of tears. In her teenage, she
missed tasty delightful food to eat and got only the crumbs. During her college
days, she was forced to get married, a stage where unscholarliness, lack of
education resulted in high ferocity rate, aggravating the condition of females in
the country. Again if this female gives birth to a girl child, the journey begins
once again. She missed all roses of life and was finally fitted to a graveyard.
Thats where she got peace of mind. If the practice continues, then no longer a
day will come when Mother India will have no mothers, potentially, no life.

WOMEN'S REVOLUTION IN FRANCE

About sixty women's club came up in multifarious France cities. The society of
Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most conspicuous of them. One
of their main requirement was that women enjoy the synonymous political
rights as men. Women were dissatisfied from the Constitution of 1791
concentrated those to submissive citizens. They demanded the right to vote, to
be elected to the assembly and to dominance political office. Only then, they
fell, would their involvement be epitomized in the new government. Women's
battle for equal political rights, however, carried forward. Meanwhile the Reign
of Terror, the new government issued laws ordering cessation of women's clubs
and banning their political exertion. Many beetling women were arrested and a
number of them electrocuted. Women's movements for voting rights and equal
practices continued through the proximate 200 years in many countries of the
world. The bout for the vote was carried out through an intercontinental
suffrage movement during the late nineteenth century. The exemplars of the
political activities of French women during the revolutionary years was kept
existing as an inspiring remembrance. It was finally in 1946 that women in
France won the right to vote.

"SAVE GIRL CHILD' INTENSIFIES IN STATE"

The wave of safekeeping to daughters sweeping across the State, has escalated a
long way. All the districts in the State are undertaking experiments as per local
conditions and situations to further popularize the campaign. Latest in the series
is Balaghat district administrations decision to send greeting card to the parent
begetting girl child in hospital. Not only this, but the birth of girl children be
broadcast weekly from FM Radio of Balaghat Akashwani. Paths and ways of
treading them may be different, but the purpose is the same and that is
protection of daughters.

WOMEN POWER IS THE MIGHTIEST IN THE WHOLE WORLD...

"Women are not inferior "our past, present and future indicates it by many
examples and some of their achievements are given below:

The Inspiring women of the world

MOTHER TERRESA: Mother Terresa who was the first lady to win the
Nobel Prize in the world.
LEYMAH, ELLEN, TAWAKUL: Leymah Gbowee, Ellen Johnson, and
Tawakul Karman won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2011 and raised the
glory of women.
Smt. Indira Gandhi: Indira Gandhi the bold lady who was first lady to
become prime minister of India.
Benazir Bhutto: Benazir Bhutto became prime minister, finance minister,
defence minister and chairperson of Pakistan people's party.
Jullia Gillard: Jullia Gillard present prime minister of Australia.
Sheikh Haseena: SheikhHhaseena prime minister of Bangladesh.
SMT. PRATIBHA DEVI SINGH PATIL: First lady President of India.
HEENA RABBANI KHAR: Heena Rabbani Khar foriengn minister of
Pakistan.

WOMEN WHO CAME FORWARD IN OTHER FIELDS

QUEEN ELIZEBETH: Lady who is ruling the England.

RANI LAXMI BAI: The lady who struggled in 18th century against
Britishers for the freedom of India. She was the strength of all ladies as
well as all the Indians.
VIJAYA LAXMI PANDIT: First woman ambassadsor of India.
KIRAN BEDI: First woman IPS officer.
KALPANA CHAWLA: She was the First Indian-American woman who
went to the space.
 SUNITA WILLIAMS: Second Indian-american woman selected for the
space mission and who also returned safely after performing all the
experiments.
P.T. USHA: Udan pari of India who rose the nose of women in sports.
Elizabeth Blackwell: Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 1821 31 May
1910) was the first woman Physician in the world during Queen
Victoria's reign.

SOLUTIONS

Laws made by governments of world to stop killing of girls.

India is home to one of the largest population of children in the world. This
poses a challenge of mammoth dimension to a developing country to provide
adequate nutrition, education and health care to the younger generation,
especially the deprived girl child. Since the conceptualization of the
Constitution of India till the present, Indias lawmakers have been at the task of
laying down a series of laws to protect the interest of this endangered gender.
Here we outline the main legal protection systems in practice, covering the
entire gambit of issues including child labor, child marriage, female foeticide,
child sexual abuse, fundamental rights and medical ethics.

The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women in India (2001):

The National Policy for the Empowerment of Women in India (2001) is
hailed as one of the biggest achievements in the history of Indian
womens human rights. The law states as, All forms of discrimination
against the girl child and violation of her rights shall be eliminated by
undertaking strong measures, both preventive and punitive within and
outside the family. These would relate specifically to strict enforcement
of laws against prenatal sex selection and the practices of female
foeticide, female infanticide, child marriage, and child abuse and child
prostitution.

B) Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986: The Child Labour
Act prohibits employment of children (under 14 yrs) in 13 occupations
 and 57 processes contained in Part A & B of the schedule to the Act. It
also lays down punishments for work of children in assault of the
provisions of this Act and influences the use of children in work with
respect to working hours, number of holidays, wellness and safety in
work place. The other provisions relate to prohibition of traffic in human
beings and forced labor (Article 23). Certain principles of policy to be
followed by the State stipulate that children be secured against
exploitation.

C) The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition

of Sex Selection) Act: The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act and Rules 1994 (as
amended up to 2002) (the PCPNDT Act) mandates that sex selection by
any person, by any means, before or after conception, is prohibited.

D) Child Marriage Bill 2006: According to the Child Bill (2006), people
marrying children and people involved in these practices, people abetting
or attending a child marriage would face up to two years in prison and a
fine of 100,000 rupees.

E) Child Sexual Abuse: Under the Indian law, those accused of child
sexual abuse are currently charged under Section 376 as a punishment for
rape and Section 377 that defines unnatural sexual offenses, of the Indian
Penal Code.

F) Code of Medical Ethics: Constituted by the Indian Parliament in the

Medical Council Act, 1956, the Code of Medical Ethics lays down that:
On no account sex determination test shall be undertaken with the intent
to terminate the life of a female foetus developing in her mothers womb,
unless there are other absolute indications for termination of pregnancy as
specified in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. Any act of
termination of pregnancy of normal female foetus, amounting to female
foeticide, shall be regarded as professional misconduct on the part of the
 physician leading to penal erasure besides rendering him liable to
criminal proceedings as per the provisions of this Act (Clause 7.6). It is
here important to note that the penalty for unindicated sex determination
and female foeticide is striking off the name from the register apart from
criminal action.

PARENTS EDUCATION

Parent Teacher Meeting can help parents to get educated. Several laws were
made by the government and are implementing too. Several organizations are
working hard for saving girl child. Hospitals are promoting girl child but what
do we understand by the declining sex ratio? Killing of girl child is still going
on through foeticides, infanticides, etc. what does it prove? It proves that a girl
child is still demoting in the present scenario and this is happening because
people are not aware especially the parents are not aware. So parents education
must be promoted as it is the first step for saving a girl child.

CHILD RIGHT CONVENTION

The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that "States Parties shall
respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child
within their jurisdiction without discernment of any kind, irrespective of the
child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, color, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property,
disability, birth or status. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines
basic rights of children covering multifarious needs and issues. India
recommended it on December 11, 1992. Following are a few rights in the
immediate purview of Smile Foundation as well as India.

The right to Education: 50% of Indian children aged 6-18 do not go to

school Dropout rates increase alarmingly in class III to V, its 50% for
boys, 58% for girls.
 The right to Expression: Every child has a right to express himself freely
in whichever way he likes. Majority of children however are exploited
by their elders and not allowed to express.

The right to Information: Every child has a right to know his basic rights
and his position in the society. High incidence of illiteracy and ignorance
among the deprived and underprivileged children prevents them from
having access to information about them and their society.

The right to Nutrition: More than 50% of India's children are

malnourished. While one in every five adolescent boys is malnourished,
one in every two girls in India is undernourished.

The right to Health & Care: 58% of India's children below the age of 2
years are not fully vaccinated. And 24% of these children do not receive
any form of vaccination. Over 60% of children in India are anaemic. 95
in every 1000 children born in India, do not see their fifth birthday. 70 in
every 1000 children born in India, do not see their first birthday.

The right to protection from Abuse: There are approximately 2 million

child commercial sex workers between the age of 5 and 15 years and
about 3.3 million between 15 and 18 years. They form 40% of the total
population of commercial sex workers in India. 500,000 children are
forced into this trade every year.

The right to protection from Exploitation: 17 million children in India

work as per official estimates. A study found that children were sent to
work by compulsion and not by choice, mostly by parents, but with
recruiter playing a crucial role in influencing decision. When working
outside the family, children put in an average of 21 hours of labour per
week. Poor and bonded families often "sell" their children to contractors
who promise lucrative jobs in the cities and the children end up being
employed in brothels, hotels and domestic work. Many run away and
find a life on the streets.
 The right to protection from Neglect: Every child has a right to lead a
well-protected and secure life away from neglect. However, children
working under exploitative and inhuman conditions get neglected badly.
The right to Development: Every child has the right to development that
lets the child explore her/his full potential. Unfavourable living
conditions of underprivileged children prevents them from growing in a
free and uninhibited way.

The right to Recreation: Every child has a right to spend some time on
recreational pursuits like sports, entertainment and hobbies to explore
and develop. Majority of poor children in India do not get time to spend
on recreational activities.
The right to Name & Nationality: Every child has a right to identify
himself with a nation. A vast majority of underprivileged children in
India are treated like commodities and exported to other countries as
labour or prostitutes.

The right to Survival: Of the 12 million girls born in India, 3 million do

not see their fifteenth birthday, and a million of them are unable to
survive even their first birthday. Every sixth girl child's death is due to
gender discrimination.

Child Birth Registration

"It is the girl child who suffers the most. If she is not registered, and cannot
prove that she is a child, she can be married off or be forced into child labour, or
even forced into prostitution. As such their education and health depends on
birth registration."

- Mr Jacob, Peoples Rural Education Movement (Prem), India

1.) What is Birth Registration?

Birth registration is the process by which a child's birth is recorded in the civil
register by the applicable government authority. It provides the first legal
recognition of the child and is generally required for the child to obtain a birth
certificate and consequently any other legal documents and rights. Whilst, in
some cases, this is issued to the child at the same time as registration, in others,
a separate application must be made. It is important that the registered child
receive a birth certificate, since it is this that provides permanent, official and
visible evidence of a state's legal recognition of his or her existence as a
member of society

2.) Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Article 7 states:

a) The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right
from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible,
and the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

b) States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance

with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international
instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be
stateless.

3.) Why is it necessary?

1. It is difficult for unregistered children to prove their legal identity.

2. Unknown numbers of children orphaned by AIDS are being denied their right
to inherit parental property because they do not have a birth certificate
providing legal proof of their identity and family ties.

3. In some countries around the world, a child without proof of citizenship will
be denied access to vaccination programmes.

4. In Bangladesh, marriage of a child under 18 is prohibited by law. However, a

mere declaration regarding the age of the bride is enough for marriage
registration. The incidence of early marriage could be reduced if all marriage
registrars asked for birth certificates and proof of age.

5. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that around 246

million children are currently involved in child labour worldwide. Of these, 179
million or one in every eight children worldwide - are exposed to the worst
forms of child labour, which endanger their physical, mental or moral well-
being. Birth registration can play an important role in combating child labour.
Establishing a legal minimum age for work is clearly an important first step but,
without an effective birth registration system to back it up, it is difficult for
government agencies acting to eliminate such practices by confirming the age of
the children concerned.

6. In many countries, sexual relations with a girl under 16, with or without her
consent, are regarded as rape. Yet, without a birth certificate to confirm a girl's
age and to prove she is underage, it is hard to obtain a conviction.

7. Research carried out for Plan Nepal uncovered a situation where police were
unwilling to trace a girl known to have been trafficked across the border to a
brothel in India because she had no birth certificate or means of identification.
This meant that there was no proof of her age, nationality or even her existence.
This is great cause for concern given that there are currently an estimated
200,000 women and girls missing from Nepal, believed to have been trafficked
to India.

8. A Plan commissioned survey of children in rural schools in Ghana found that

many children even literate ones freely admitted that they did not know their
age. 80 per cent of those who did give their age were found to be incorrect when
their answer was compared to the date of birth given in the school register
(which also tended to be hugely incomplete). In the case of one boy who gave
his age as 10 years old it emerged, after lengthy investigation, that he was
actually 17 years old.

9. In some parts of Burkina Faso there exists the belief that registering a child
can be a bad omen and among other consequences, spell death for the child.
Clearly such beliefs are incompatible with the concept of registering births and
cause birth registration systems to fail.

10. In Cameroon, the Baka Pygmies are significantly under-represented in the

80 per cent national birth registration rate, with a recent census showing that up
to 98 percent of children in Baka communities do not have a birth certificate.
Plan Cameroon has been working with indigenous populations for over six
years, helping them gain official recognition from the government. The local
authorities have now officially accepted four Baka communities as recognised
villages. Plan has also helped more than 200 Baka adults to get an identity card
which, in turn, means that they can now get a birth certificate for their
unregistered children.
11. At the Third Asia Regional Conference on Birth Registration, an example
was given of a child of nearly 18 years of age sentenced to the death penalty.
His lawyers were attempting to get relief for him under the Convention on the
Rights of the Child. However, he faced difficulty in getting true justice because
he could not prove his exact date of birth due to the absence of a birth
certificate.

CONCLUSION

GOVERNMENTAL EFFORTS (mainly in INDIA)

The Balika Samriddhi Yojana in 1997 is one of the most important

initiatives of the Government to raise overall status of the girl child. The
Yojana aims to change family and community attitudes towards both, the
girl child and the mother.

A series of incentives were included in the Yojana, including the likes of

a gift of Rs. 500/- to the mother on delivery of a baby girl and the
provision of an annual scholarship for the girl, with the overall aim of
improving enrolment and retention of girls in school.

In another major initiative, in 2005, the Government of India also

announced free and reduced cost education for girls. Those with two
girls and no other children were promised discounts of up to 50%. The
program also offered fellowships of US$ 45 per month for those
undertaking post-graduate Studies.

Various State Governments have formulated State Plans of Action for

Girl Child, appropriate to the condition prevailing in each state,
prominently including Governments of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and Goa.

Adding on, the Government had also set up policies like the National
Nutrition Policy (1993), which recognizes the stage of adolescence as a
special period for a multi-sectoral nutrition intervention for the females.
 To ensure effective implementation of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994, a Central
Supervisory Board was also set-up under the chairpersonship of the
Minister-in-charge of Health and Family Welfare.

Furthermore, the National Policy on Education (1986) was formulated to

address the question of setting right the traditional gender imbalances in
education, making a strong commitment in favor of education for
womens equality.

A recent news story also reported a unique campaign being carried out by
over 200 people across five northern and western states of India, under
the leadership of the well-known religious leader and social activist,
Swami Agnivesh.

Chief Minister of Haryana (India), Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hudda, also

lauded the consistent efforts of Swami Agnivesh in the Campaign against
Female Foeticide and pledged to extend all possible infrastructural
support and assistance.

Other beneficial schemes include the Adolescent Girls Scheme, the Child
Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme, the Universal Immunization
Programme, special health check-up schemes for primary school students,
introduction of health cards in selected areas, evaluation of health
programmes, the Mid-day Meal Scheme for primary school children and
nutrition education.

Actions to be taken:

A. Generate awareness of the disadvantaged situation of girls among policy

makers, planners, administrators and implementers at all levels, as well as
within households and communities.
B. Make the girl child, particularly the girl child in difficult circumstances,
aware of her own potential, educate her about the rights guaranteed to her
under all international human rights instruments, including the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, legislation enacted for her and the
various measures undertaken by both governmental and non-
governmental organizations working to improve her status.

C. Educate women, men, girls and boys to promote girls' status and
encourage them to work towards mutual respect and equal partnership
between girls and boys.

D. Facilitate the equal provision of appropriate services and devices to girls

with disabilities and provide their families with related support services,
as appropriate.