DIMAPUR, Oct 23 - Of the 100 gender critical districts across India, Longleng district in Nagaland has also been identified as one with its Child Sex Ratio (CSR) at 885, indicating a sharp decline from 964 as per 2001 and 2011 census reports.
Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang said this while launching the State Level �Beti Bachao Beti Padhao� Scheme (Save the Girl Child, Educate Her) for the State at his official residence in Kohima recently.
The Chief Minister said the scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana aims to address the declining trend in the Child Sex Ratio between 0-6 years of age.
According to the 2011 Census data of India, the CSR is at an all-time low of 918 in the country. The Government of India, through the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP), aims to address this serious issue through a mass campaign across the country, and focused intervention and multi-sectoral action. The overall goal of the scheme is to celebrate the girl child and enable her education to make coordinated and convergent efforts to ensure her survival, protection and education.
He said BBBP was a significant step towards reinforcing sense of responsibility towards girls by seeking to address gender imbalance and discrimination against the girl child. Further, he stated that BBBP aimed at encouraging the birth of girls and to tackle the low Child Sex Ratio.
He asserted that Nagaland like most of the patriarchal society, also has a tradition of preference of boys over girls for education. However, with the change of time, Zeliang expressed happiness to note that this old traditional concept was gradually dying a natural death since Naga households today gave equal importance to the education of both boys and girls although the traditional bias against females existed in some measure in remote and rural areas.
In this regard, Zeliang stressed on focus for BBBP campaign in such areas. He also said in Nagaland, although a patriarchal society, there was no practice of deliberate mechanical or medical intervention to prevent birth of female child.
Zeliang said he had not come across anyone amongst the Nagas who would go to the extent of terminating a pregnancy on the ground that the child was female.
Despite this, he said the sex ratio in Nagaland was still below the desired level and in this regard, asked whether the State�s doctors need to apply their minds and do research to find the reason.
Zeliang thanked the State Resource Centre of Women for taking the initiative in launching the programmme. He expressed his happiness to note that the present scenario of discrimination between male and female has become much lesser in Nagaland while urging the people to celebrate the birth of a girl child as we celebrate the birth of a boy child. He hoped that the status of a girl child would improve immensely with the launch of this scheme in the State.
