UNPF-CMS to hold national painting competition on girl child

Panaji, Jan 5 (UNI) The United Nations Population Fund-India, in collaboration with Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies (CMS), is organising the first national painting competition to highlight the importance of girl child in the society.

As many as 450 students from 50 colleges of fine arts in the country have confirmed their participation. The last date for submission of the works is February 29, according to CMS manager of the event, Ashwini Sinha here today.

The competition, open for final year painting students of BFA and MFA, attracts UNPF Art for Social Change Awards and rewards, with the first prize being Rs 50,000, second prize Rs 30,000 and third prize Rs 20,000 besides, Rs 5,000 each for 50 shortlisted paintings.

With the girl child population dwindling in the country, the UNPF has decided to hold the contest with the theme 'Delighting in Daughters'.

The best paintings would be printed into calendars and put in travel exhibitions to promote the theme, Mr Sinha said.

Punjab leads the states with the worst sex ratio, according to 2001 census, with as low as 798 girl children for every 1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group, followed by 819 in Haryana, 868 in Delhi, 883 in Gujarat and 909 in Rajasthan.

Fatehgarh Sahib district in Punjab leads the worst districts in the country with the sex ratio of 754, followed by Kurekshetra in Haryana (770), Ahmedabad (814), south-west Delhi (845) and Mumbai (898), according to the census.

Goa, however, reported the sex ratio of 938 in the 2001 census as against 964 in 1991 and 965 in 1981.

This plummeting of the sex ratio is facilitated by the modern preconception and prenatal diagnostic tests, according to studies.

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