PATNA: Concerned by the discrepancies in the male-female sex ratio in the state, the Bihar government has decided to enact a strict legislation against female foeticide.
It has also decided to provide cash incentives to all the new born girls by depositing Rs5000 in a long term fixed deposit bank account, which can be availed by the girl after she is 18 years old. However this incentive is only for below the poverty line families and those observing the two-child norm.
Elaborating the state government’s plan, Health Minister Chandramohan Rai said that a new bill would be tabled in the forthcoming winter session of the state assembly to give more teeth to the existing Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT Act). The legislation would empower the state not only to cancel the registration of all doctors and nursing homes found guilty of violating the Act, but also initiate criminal proceedings.
“I am in favour of registering a murder case against the guilty,” the minister told DNA. The policy to provide cash incentive on the birth of a girl child was already prevalent in Haryana. Even though the gap in gender ratio was not all that bad in comparison to many other states, the Nitish Kumar government was contemplating all these steps to stem the rot in society in the budding stage.
