In what could be termed as an attempt to add value to the Nanhi Chhaan initiative,Harsimrat Kaur Badal,wife of SAD(B) president Sukhbir Badal,today requested the state government to do away the Shagun scheme and instead provide Rs 15,000 as fixed deposit in the name of newborn girl of poor parents. Harsimrat addressed an impressive rally organised in connection with Nanhi Chhaan initiative. Thousands of women attended the rally,during which one lakh saplings were distributed as buta parsad. I took up the matter (of providing Rs 15,000) with the Chief Minister,who acknowledged it as a brilliant idea, Harsimrat told The Indian Express. I am hopeful that modalities to implement the idea would be completed soon, she added. Harsimrat said the FD would multiply to a useful amount by the time the girl become adults. Then she can decide,where and how to spend that money. She may decide to spend it on her studies or venture into a business, she said. Addressing the gathering earlier,she said she would request the CM to reward the village panchayats that have taken the initiative of improving sex ratio and planted maximum trees. She hailed SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar for constituting a wing to spread awareness about female foeticide and drug addiction. Speaking on the occasion,SAD (B) chief Sukhbir Badal said dowry was the root cause of female foeticide,and it was high time that a crusade was launched against the evil. Later,addressing a press conference,he said the state government would start a womens college in every district and the present infrastructure would be used in such a way that government institutes would be used to impart education to women in the morning and to men in the evening. Makkar and Bathinda MP Paramjeet Kaur Gulshan also addressed the gathering.
