Telefilm on female foeticide released

Bathinda, March 9: ‘Kanjka da Katal’, an 82-minute telefilm aimed at curbing female foeticide, was released to mark International Women’s Day here yesterday.  It has been produced by the PNDT Cell and directed by its Project Officer Sadhuram Kushla.

The film is about a Jat Sikh family, in which a woman craves for a grandson from her elder daughter-in-law, but her younger son, in connivance with a doctor, gets male foetuses aborted to avoid division of land. When the PNDT Cell tightens its noose around the doctor, a female foetus is saved and the girl grows up to become a jail superintendent.

“It has depicted gender bias prevalent in society and conveys the message that a daughter’s birth does not mean loads of worries and dowry,” said Ms Harjinder Kaur, a housewife, after watching it. Deputy Commissioner Rahul Bhandari said the telefilm would be shown on cable television in cities and through projectors in villages.

“We hope that the telefilm will help bring about a positive change in the people’s mindset and they will allow the girl child to step into the world,” he said. As a result of efforts of the PNDT Cell, set up here in 2003, the number of girl child per 1,000 boys had shot up from 740 in 2002 to 808 in 2005. More...