President calls for reducing child labour

New Delhi, Dec 12 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today called for reducing child labour in the country.

Receiving the UNICEF's State of the World's Children Report 2007 at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, the President also emphasised the need for encouraging the joint family system so that good young citizens could be developed in the families, especially where both parents work. He lauded the work being done by UNICEF for children's welfare in India.

The report, presented by Mr Cecilio Adorna, UNICEF Country Representative in India, points out that 7000 fewer girls are born in India each day than the global average would suggest, largely because female foetuses are aborted after sex determination tests.

The problem of female foeticide has significantly worsened since 1991.

Preference for son over daughter is largely responsible for skewed sex ratio of 882 girls to 1,000 boys. The global sex ratio is 954 girls to 1,000 boys.

Laws banning sex determination tests notwithstanding, female foeticide is common in much of India. Modern diagnostic techniques such as amniocentesis and ultrasound are used to ascertain sex in the earliest phase of gestation and misused for female foeticide.

Failure of authorities to effectively implement the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act enacted in 1996 was also responsible for it. Only one conviction has been possible from hundreds of cases lodged under PNDT.

In 80 percent of districts, the situation is getting worse. In nothern states of Haryana and Punjab, there are even fewer than 800 girls per 1,000 boys.

Even after birth, discrimination continues against girls in India, limiting their access to nutrition, healthcare, education and maternal care.

Only 67.7 per cent of females between the ages of 15 to 24 are literate in India, compared to 84.2 percent of males, and against 98.5 percent of women of the same age group in China.

Around 45 per cent of Indian women are still being forced into marriage before the age of 18 in violation of the law which contributes to high rates of maternal mortality, with one woman dying every seven minutes in India from a pregnancy related cause.

UNI AJ RP BD2012