About 500 women activists from thirty organisations took out a rally to the Vidhan Sabha in Jaipur on Tuesday demanding efficient implementation of the PCPNDT act in Rajasthan to curb female foeticide following the illegal sex determination tests.
Although the Government has announced a task force on this issue, however it was felt that there were very simple doable things that the Government needed to do administratively.
A delegation from the rally led by Dr. Pawan Surana also met the health minister Aimamuddin Ahmed Khan as the chief minister Ashok Gehlot was not available and gave him the memorandum. Others in the delegation included Rakhi from CFAR Jaipur, Kusum Saiwal from Janwadi Mahila Samiti, Rajan Chaudhari from SRKPS, Jigyasa from Action Aid and Mewa Bharti from the Domestic Workers forum.
The health minister showed his commitment and immediately forwarded the letter to the chief minister.
The demands are:
- Just making health, women and child departments accountable would not be enough, all departments should be made liable to address this core issue with budgets and programmes
- Making all health and medical professionals accountable for the implementation of the Act.
- The State Advisory board and district advisory committees have not been constituted as yet fully. The NGO members should also be selected immediately.
- Chief minister should call a meeting of District Collectors, who are the appropriate authorities under the law, and tell them the significance of the PCPNDT act to curb female foeticide following sex determination tests in the state.
- Frequent inspections and decoy operations ought to be carried out in order to keep a tab on the 1800 ultra sound machines in the state.
- Special PPs to be appointed for all the cases filed and fast track cases to be set up.
- Rajasthan Medical Council should also be active in implementing the code of ethics, etiquettes under which the PCPNDT act is regulated
The activists:
Dr. Pawan Surana (Former President Rajasthan State Women\\\’s Commission), Dr Malati Gupta and Bina Sharma (Rajasthan University Women\\\’s Association), Kavita Sriavastava (People\\\’s Union for Civil Liberties Rajasthan), Rakhi (CFAR), Rajan Chaudhari (SRKPS), Kusum Saiwal and Sumitra Chopra (AIDWA), Mewa Bharti (Domestic Workers Union), Renuka Pamecha (WRG), Nishat Hussain (National Muslim Women\\\’s Welfare Society), Komal Srivastava (BGVS), Dr. Meeta Singh, Dr. Narendra Gupta (Prayas), Satish (CDR), Aasha Kalra (Children and Women\\\’s Welfare Society), Kailash Chand Kumbhkar (Academy for Socio Legal Studies), Sugan Kanwar (Rozi-Roti Adhikar Samuh), Farida ( Jagriti mahila manch)