In a major initiative for the empowerment of women, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday kickstarted the ‘National Girl Child Day’ celebrations with a message to the society to come forward to protect the life and liberty of girls.
Underlining the need for creating grassroot level awareness to further improve Punjab’s girl child sex ratio which had gone up from 890/1,000 in 2013-14 to 920/1,000 during 2019-20, the Chief Minister said his government’s decision to dedicate January as ‘Dheeyan Di Lohri’ was a step in this direction.
Pointing that the religious scriptures accord high status to women, Amarinder Singh said with girls consistently outshining boys at various levels, they continue to prove their mettle year after year.
Women only need the motivation to make a mark in every sphere, he said, adding that opportunities for girls were growing in today’s era.
He cited the examples of Kamala Harris being elected the new US Vice-President, an all-woman crew of aircraft and women fighter pilots as proof of the growing women power.
The Chief Minister also listed out various measures taken by his government to nurture women power, including 30 percent reservation for women in government jobs, 50 percent reservation in panchayat and local body elections, ‘One Stop Centre’ Scheme in all districts to support women and girls who are victims of violence or conflict, among others.
He pointed out that the recently announced 50 percent concession in the ‘bus fares for women’ scheme would be launched soon.
Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Aruna Chaudhary expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister for taking such various initiatives for women empowerment, in addition to the ‘Poshan Abhiyan’ aimed at providing a nutritional diet to women.
As many as 27,314 Anganwadi centers did a commendable job in Covid-19 peak times as frontline warriors, she added.
