Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Minnie Mathew administered the pledge on 'eliminating gender-biased sex selection and violence against women' to officers and employees of the General Administration department in the state secretariat here on Thursday.
"Recognising that the Constitution of India guarantees the rights and freedom of men and women equally without any barrier, bias or discrimination and the same are threatened by the illegal and damaging practice of gender-biased sex selection. We the public servants of India hereby take a solemn pledge that we shall act in all possible ways individually and collective to eliminate gender-biased sex selection that threatens birth and survival of the girl child," the pledge read.
"We shall ensure that the girls are born, loved and nurtured and grown up to become empowered citizens of our country," it mentioned.
Principal Secretary (Political) Ajay Misra, Principal Secretary (Finance) V Bhaskar, Principal Secretary (Transport) Lakshmi Parthasarathy and other senior bureaucrats and employees took the pledge.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, August 09, 2012, 14:32