Anantapur: Change in mindset will help curb social evils, says Gauthami

Anantapur: District Collector M Gauthami has stated that with the establishment of village and ward secretariats, an army of women police, will act as ‘eyes and ears’ of the government and monitor and check child marriages at the village level.

The women police, who were there for every 2,000 population, can know happenings at the micro-level. If the Anganwadis and the police work together, checking child marriages was not a difficult proposition, she pointed out.

Participating in the Child empowerment and child marriages prevention committee meeting held at the RDT Ecology centre here on Wednesday, Gauthami observed that several social evils which ruled the roost at one time are now in the dust bin of history and child marriages also will meet the same fate.

Laws will help check social evils to some extent but a change in perceptions and thinking patterns was the ultimate solution. “If our very thought process experiences a change then it is easy to fight any evil and eradicate it permanently. While the police and Anganwadis physically checks such evils, the DRDA, education and PR departments can change thinking patterns by creating mass awareness among the people,” Gauthami said.

The very thought that marriage was the only solution for every problem should change. The ageold evils cannot change overnight but one should be patient while trying to achieve success. One should not end up on a pessimistic note, saying that these campaigns are of no use.

Additional SP Nagendrudu, ICDS PD Sridevi, CWC chairperson Meda Ramalakshmi, UNICEF national programme coordinator Muralikrishna, DRDS PD Narasimha Reddy, ZP CEO Bhaskar Reddy and Mepma PD Vijaylakshmi participated.