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Sons must also be made responsible for safe environment: Modi on rapes

PTI
Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, IndiaUpdated: Apr 25, 2018, 10:36 AM IST
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File photo. Photograph:(ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said sons have to be made more responsible for a safe environment for daughters and asserted that the promulgation of an ordinance on rape showed the Centre acted on people's outrage on sexual crimes against minors.

Days after the government approved the ordinance allowing courts to award the death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 years, Modi also called for a social movement to ensure the safety of girls.

"Shivraj ji (Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan) just referred to the capital punishment provided in the ordinance for rape against minors and I could see that it (the remark) received cheers from everyone present here," Modi said while addressing a rally here.

"There is a government in Delhi which listens to your voice and takes decisions. So, the Centre has made a provision for capital punishment to the monstrous intent," he said.

The Union Cabinet had on April 21 okayed the ordinance amid a nation-wide uproar over the rape and murder of minors in Kathua and Surat and the rape of a teenager in Unnao.

"Those who commit such ghastly crimes will hang," the prime minister said.

Modi, while addressing the National Panchayati Raj Sammelan at Ramnagar in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district, also pitched for creating an atmosphere for daughters' safety within the family.

"Families will have to enhance the honour and respect of daughters. Families should also make their sons more responsible.

"In this way, the safety of daughters would not be a difficult task. We have to launch a social movement in this direction," Modi said.

He also mentioned measures taken by the government for the welfare of tribals and farmers and asked the elected representatives of panchayats to ensure that these steps were implemented.

On the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day, Modi also urged people in rural areas to focus on "Jan Dhan, Van Dhan and Gou Dhan" (human wealth, forest resources and the bounty of cows) to develop villages as envisaged by the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

"By 2022, when the country celebrates the 75th anniversary of its independence, we should strive to make villages as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi. It can be done by using villages' manpower for developing villages, Van Dhan by collecting neem seeds for coating urea and Gou Dhan by using cow dung for producing electricity, bio-gas and manure for becoming self-reliant," Modi said.

He also called upon them to opt for bamboo farming and honey cultivation to raise their earnings.

During his visit here, the prime minister also laid the foundation stone for an LPG bottling plant at Maneri in the district.