Bengaluru: The first New Year baby girl born at 00:05 on Monday at a civic hospital in the city’s western suburb would get free education up to the degree level from the city civic body, said an official.

“The first baby girl born five minutes after Sunday midnight in the New Year at the Rajajinagar civic hospital has been chosen for free education up to under-graduation from the interest earned out of Rs 5 lakh that will be deposited in a bank by the BBMP,” its spokesman L. Suresh told IANS.

The lucky baby girl, born to Pushpa M., 25, wife of Gopi M., 25, is also their first child.

“We are very grateful to the civic authorities for this scheme and helping us with our child’s education,” the child’s father told IANS here.

In a bid to celebrate girl child and encourage their education, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had earlier announced that the first girl child in a civic hospital on the New Year would be given free education.

“The first baby girl born on January 1 through a normal delivery at any civic hospital in the city would get free education up to degree level in a college, so that girls are not considered a burden,” Bengaluru Mayor R. Sampath Raj had told IANS earlier.

“Pregnant women, who go to civic hospitals for delivery, are generally from poor families and unfortunately think a girl child is a burden to bring her up,” Raj had remarked earlier.

The BBMP would be making a fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakh under the name of its Commissioner and the child. The interest of around 6.5 to 7 per cent per year on the amount would be used for the girl’s education.

The infant’s mother works on contract at the state secretariat, while the father also works on a contract basis as a sales engineer in the city.

“My wife and I together manage to make less than about Rs 20,000 each month after all the work we put in. This scheme would definitely help us and our child,” Gopi said.

“We hope our girl gets good education. We dream to see her become a politician one day,” he added.

Since a Caesarean section birth can be induced any time, the civic doctors had decided to reward only the girl child born through natural process. Out of 32 health centres in the city that are run by the civic body, 26 are maternity hospitals.

(Business Standard)