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23 Jan, 2013

India Marks Jan 24 as Girl Child Day To Reverse Declining Child Sex Ratio

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22-January, 2013, Press Information Bureau – The Ministry of Women and Child Development will celebrate the National Girl Child Day on the 24th January, 2013 at A.P. Shinde Symposium Hall, National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) Complex, ICAR, New Delhi. Mrs Krishna Tirath, Minister of Women and Child Development will preside over the function and Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India will be the Chief Guest and will deliver the keynote address.

The Government of India in 2008 declared January 24 of every year to be celebrated as the ‘National Girl Child Day’ with the objective of raising consciousness of the society towards the girl child so that she can be valued and respected. Ministry of Women and Child Development has been taking a multi pronged approach to address and reverse the trend of declining child sex ratio in the country. The objective of all these initiatives is to work towards ensuring that girls are born, loved and nurtured and grow up to become empowered citizens of this country with equal rights and opportunities.

As part of the activities being undertaken to celebrate the National Girl Child Day in 2013, a nation-wide slogan writing competition amongst High School Children in the age group of 14-18 years is being organized by the National Mission for Empowerment of Women under the aegis of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The objective of organizing this competition is to let students suggest a fresh mnemonic through the slogans for the theme “save the girl child’. The slogan should reflect the larger concern of gender equity and empowerment of girls in a rights based approach.

During the function, prizes would be distributed to the winners of the All India Slogan Writing Competition which was conducted by the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW). Prizes would also be given to the winners of the slogan writing competition organized through local NGOs of Delhi running the Samajik Suvidha Kendras as part of extended event in the series of Nari ki Choupal organized by NMEW during Vatsalya Mela 2012.

Cultural events comprising of song and dance sequence dedicated to the girl child by the children of Amba Foundation, a street play by Asmita Theatre Group and a dance drama on women’s empowerment by Sharmistha Mukherjee and her troupe would also form part of the celebration.