This Friday, a PCPNDT (pre-conception, prenatal diagnostic technique) cell team headed by Raghuveer Singh set up a trap to catch radiologist Dr Abdul Rahim Ansari in Bundi. The accused was busted for his involvement in sex selection activities. Two of the female staff (nurses Parwati Panchal and Rukmani Devi) were also arrested for their misdeeds. According to the police, they’ve been trying to track them down since last 13 months, based on the leads provided by local informants under Mukhbir Yojana.
Seeing the positive outcomes of these decoy operations, PCPNDT state supervisory board decided to increase Mukhbir Yojana incentives from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh. This decision was taken in a meeting supervised by health minister Kalicharan Saraf on Friday.
The verdict came after PCPNDT successfully conducted 27 decoy operations to prevent female foeticide in Rajasthan last year. When Raje government launched Mukhbir Yojana in 2012, Rs 25,000 was offered as incentives to the native informants. The idea was to invoke community participation to fight against female foeticide and infanticide. The result was that the child sex ratio went up in Rajasthan and was recorded as 938 girls per 1000 boys.
Raje Government’s Mukhbir Yojana Yields Positive Outcomes in Rajasthan
Rajasthan Census report 2011 revealed that the child sex ratio in last ten years (2001-2011) dipped down from 909 to 888 that is by 21 points. To resolve this crisis, Rajasthan government launched the Mukhbir Yojana to reward the social informants for providing leads to the police. These informants are normal people like you and me, who track down clinics that perform illegal abortions and provide information regarding hospitals and doctors involved in sex selection.
This was Rajasthan health department’s innovative idea to suppress major issues plaguing Rajasthan, like sex-selection, abortion and dropping child sex ratio. In last 5 years, the reward amount for this scheme was increased to Rs 2 lakh. The result was that the cops received 30 leads after that. Probably this is why the government raised the prize amount to Rs 2.5 lakh now.
Distribution of Funds under New Rules
Earlier, the allotted funds were distributed in the following manner–
- Rs 80,000 to the decoy (a woman who fakes pregnancy to trap the doctor),
- Rs 80,000 to the informer,
- Rs 40,000 to the person who accompanies the decoy.
According to new reforms, the funds will be distributed as:
- Rs 1 lakh to the decoy woman,
- Rs 1 lakh to the informer,
- Rs 50,000 to the person accompanying the decoy.
The PCPNDT cell officers require at least 30,000 rupees for conducting each operation. Therefore, the state supervisory board decided that it’ll create a special fund for catering to their requirements.
Thus, it’ll get easier for the PCPNDT team to prevent sex-related crimes in Rajasthan. Moreover, it’ll encourage the natives to become more vigilant regarding crimes prevailing in the society.
