District magistrates to be held responsible for poor progress of 'Beti Bachao' campaign: Maneka Gandhi

New Delhi: District magistrates (DM) of the respective areas will be held responsible for poor progress under the Centre’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign aimed at protecting and empowering the girl child, Union minister Maneka Gandhi said on Tuesday.

“Wherever we have not done well, I will be talking to them (DMs) through video conferencing every day. Every DM will have to give me a report and anybody who has failed, it will go into his Annual Confidential Report (ACR) because I will be discussing it with the chief minister concerned,” she said.

The Women and Child Development Minister was responding to a query at the All Women Journalists’ workshop here on decline in the child sex-ratio at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. “District authorities need to tell all the village sarpanches about Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and provide them counselling to ensure protection of women from violence,” a senior ministry official said.

“They have to put the fear of PCPNDT Act as Haryana has done. It is the key to it. They need to map and register all the ultrasound machines in the districts and establish a web portal,” he said.

The official said that 49 out of 100 districts selected under the programme had recorded significant improvement in child sex-ratio.

The scheme puts the onus on deputy commissioners and district magistrates for adopting a proactive approach by launching creative initiatives to change the attitude of the people on the issue of the girl child.