Girls in India discriminated, says Unicef

Girls in the country are facing discrimination and to correct it, the prevailing mindset has to be changed, Louis Georges Arsenault, Unicef's India head said here on Tuesday.

Millions of adolescent girls in India, and across the globe, are not given the same opportunities to grow and develop on an equal footing with boys, Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Arsenault as saying.

"Girls are suffering from discrimination confronted with many issues like female foeticide, access to education and growing and child marriage. This being said, it's difficult not to be moved and deeply affected by gang rapes happening here in the city," he added.

The Unicef official said this situation had fundamentally to do with women's status in the society.

"The adolescent and girl child are being seen as a community that can be disposed of. It's a mindset that needs to be challenged and one way to address this is to raise our voice for change in social norms," he added.

Arsenault was speaking at the launch of the Cheer-O-Meter website here on Tuesday.