Mother, wife or daughter's names on house plaques in this UP district

Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 22 (IANS) As a mark of respect to the girl child, several homes in Muzaffarnagar district, which is known for its strong patriarchal system, have put up nameplates with their daughters' names written on them."More than 200 nameplates with names of daughters were put up on the doors of the houses in various villages in the last few days. The campaign is still on," said district probation officer Mohd Mustaqeem.The initiative is a result of a campaign launched a few weeks ago by the Department of Women and Child Development."The families with no daughters were told to put the names of their women members. Like people can put the names of their wives or mothers on the nameplate," he said.Officials have toured scores of villages to encourage people to adopt this practice and majority of them have happily accepted the proposal.A similar drive had evoked an encouraging response in Punjab and Haryana, which had dismal gender ratios. Now Uttar Pradesh has adopted the campaign to stem rising cases of crime against women.
--IANS amita/in