Ambala village to give Rs21,000 on birth of girl

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, July 23

The panchayat of Metlan village of the block I of Ambala district has come out with an initiative to improve the sex ratio of the village.

Under the initiative, the panchayat would give Rs21,000 on the birth of a girl child and it would be given in the form a fixed deposit. The money would be collected by villagers.

Besides, the panchayat would plant 51 plants on the birth of a girl child.

Nisha Devi, sarpanch of the village, told The Tribune, “The village has decided to celebrate the birth of every girl. It will help the village in improving the sex ratio of the village. Besides, the village will give Rs11,000 to the person who will give information about any sex determination test or foetus killing in the village.”

“The sex ratio of the village is 886 girls per 1,000 boys and we want to improve it. The sex ratio should be equal. The initiative will help the government as well in its ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme’,” she added.

The burden of the money which would be given under the initiative wouldn’t be on the panchayat as the money would be collected by villagers.

The panchayat has also decided to give a reward to the person who gives information about any person or organisation involved in power theft.

The sarpanch said, “Anyone with the knowledge of power theft can bring it to the notice of the panchayat. The identity of the informer will remain secret and if the information is found to be true, the informer will be given Rs500 as a reward.”

The village has a population of 547. The panchayat has now planned to go cashless as well. Shops in the village would accept money through the digital method and efforts are being made in this regard.

“The government school of the village is up to the primary level. Efforts were made to upgrade the school to at least middle school level, but officials said since the students’ strength of the school was very low, it could not be upgraded. Currently, there are only 40 children in the government school,” said Kashmiri Lal, husband of the sarpanch.