The Times of India             19.08.2013

Pune Municipal Corporation plans to give free birth certificates to girls

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) wants to gift a free copy of the birth certificate to every girl child born in the city.

The PMC's women and child welfare committee had recently submitted a proposal to the health department suggesting that the first print of the birth certificate of every girl child be given for Re 1. "We have decided to make it completely free of cost. The proposal will be tabled in the general body meeting for approval," said PMC medical officer of health S T Pardeshi. Currently, the PMC charges Rs 10 for every copy of birth certificate which is issued by the respective ward office. Nearly 24,000 girls are born within the limits of the PMC every year.

Pardeshi said that if the proposal is approved by the general body, the first copy will be given free while the prevailing charges will be applicable for every subsequent copy of the birth certificate.

Recently, the civic body launched the 'Ladki Lek Dattak Yojana', which is aimed at providing financial support to girls born in poor families. The scheme was also approved by its Women and Child Welfare Committee.

The state has launched other initiatives of late to improve the sex ratio in the state. One of them was to make it mandatory for government and private hospitals to maintain display boards showing the sex ratio at birth, which would be based on the number of boys and girls born at the particular hospital.

The state government, in a letter issued on May 31, has directed civil surgeons and civic health departments to ensure that all hospitals falling in their respective jurisdictions follow the latest diktat in letter and spirit.

"All the efforts are aimed at improving the sex ratio. Recent statistics has shown promising upward swing in the ratio of baby girls born across the state," said a state health official.

The state's child sex ratio at birth has taken a fair turn recently, with 905 baby girl births recorded for every 1,000 boys last year, a feat officials attribute to the effective implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques (prevention of sex determination) Act, According to the 2011 census, Maharashtra's child sex ratio was 833 girls per 1,000 boys and Pune's was 873 girls per 1,000 boys.