Muzaffarpur defeated Bhagalpur by 17 runs in the final of Sister Jayashree Memorial Inter-District Women’s Cricket Tournament at Notre Dame Academy in Patna on Sunday. Muzaffarpur’s Sanjana Ray was declared the Player of the Match and the Player of the Tournament. While Muzaffarpur scored 144 for 7 in 20 overs, Bhagalpur could only score 127 for 5. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and convener of Bihar Cricket Association Abdul Bari Siddiqui was the chief guest on the concluding day of the tournament. Text by Smita Kumar and picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, May 8: Society needs to protect the creative power of mothers for the future generations.

On a day that celebrates motherhood, guests present at Mahavir Vatsalya Hospital spoke on the necessity to protect mothers during pregnancy.

The hospital jointly celebrated Mother’s Day with its fifth annual day celebrations today in collaboration with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Nidan, Kissan Vikas Trust and Bred on the hospital premises.

Justice P.K. Sinha, present at the event, said: “Love and motherhood are two amazing words which have been described in different ways by different people. A mother’s unconditional love is the purest form of emotion.”

On the increasing number of abortions and mother mortality rate, retired Justice Rajendra Prasad, a member of Bihar State Human Rights Commission, said: “Lines like Matrideo bhava and Janani janma bhumishcha swargadapi gariyasi are used in India, where a mother has a supreme place. But we need to protect their creative powers from getting diminished. Until and unless mothers have access to protection during their pregnancy, the next generation cannot be safe.”

S.P. Srivastava, a former head of department, paediatrics, Patna Medical College and Hospital, said mothers should be aware of complications that could affect the longevity of their would-be child.

Nitu Prasad, the state programme in-charge of NGO Save the Children, said: “Sometimes we take these kind of celebrations for granted by limiting it to our mothers. But people should try to think beyond it and think about mothers who wait for this kind of celebrations.”

She added: “Every year, around 80 lakh children in the world die before reaching the age of five and of that, 20 lakh is in our country. Fifty per cent of this comes from seven states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, every year 82,000 newborns die and 312 mothers in 1 lakh die during childbirth. According to a survey on the safety of becoming mothers, conducted in 76 countries, India ranked 73.”

Nitu added: “The worst part is many mothers die because of ignorance and insensitivity of the society. It is a serious concern for society and people should make efforts to correct this.”

Street play group Breadnatya Mandali also presented a thematic street play on the occasion. The play focused on preparations that should be taken during pregnancy.

Later, anganwadi workers, auxillary nurses and midwife and Asha workers also shared their experience at the village level.

They requested for better facilities that is missing at most of the places.

Majority of the anganwadi and Asha workers said there are no proper beds or regular transportation facility in times of need in the villages.