Aiming at combating female foeticide and raising awareness towards women education, a city in Nepal has initiated a programme under which the local authorities on Tuesday gave cash incentives to 27 women who gave birth to baby girls, officials said.

The authorities of the Biratnagar Metropolitan City, located in south-east Nepal near Indian border, handed over the cash incentives to the mothers who gave birth to baby girls as the first and second child under the "Save girl, Educate girl" campaign.

In a programme organised at the metropolis office, Rs 3,000 each was handed over to 23 mothers who gave birth to a baby girl as their first child and Rs 25,000 each was handed over to four mothers who gave birth to baby girl as second child, the officials said.

The metropolis handed over Rs 3,000 cash, while Rs 25,000 was deposited in bank accounts.

The amount was deposited in the name of minors account in Global IME Bank. The amount can be withdrawn after the minors reach the age of 16 years. The mother is the patron of the minors.

The mothers should be at least 20 years old, have undergone check-up during pregnancy on a regular basis in hospital, give birth to the baby in the hospital to receive the incentives, Deputy Mayor Indira Karki said.

She said the campaign was launched to change people's mentality towards daughters.

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