Modi calls for eradication of female foeticide

Anand, Jan 21 (UNI) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said his government was committed to protecting the girl child's right and he wanted to achieve the goal with the help of 'Sant Shakti'.

Mr Modi was addressing the 74th birthday celebrations of Swaminarayan Temple head priest Hariprasad Swami at Sokhda village, near Vadodara.

Today was the third and concluding day of the celebrations.

Mr Modi said in the past, a newly-born girl was killed by immersing the infant in a can of milk. Today, with scientific advancement she is killed in the womb. ''Womb has become a graveyard,'' Mr Modi said.

He said this had given rise to imbalance in the male-female ratio.

He flayed the myth about the parents wanting sons. ''I have seen families with four sons and the parents living in old-age homes while with one daughter the parents are happy,'' he said.

It is our social, cultural responsibility to save the girl-child.

It will take time to eradicate this evil of foeticide, he said.

UNI