New Delhi: Asserting that special emphasis should be laid on proper development of Women and Children in the country, Union Human Resources and Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi on June 23 asked the state governments to take a cue from China, which followed this principle and became an economic giant.

Addressing ministers of Women and Child development from various states, Joshi said, "when a country has healthy young people, which is possible only by having fit mothers and children, it can achieve on the industrial or economic front."

Giving example of China, he said that country gave primary importance towards looking after women, children and literacy and only after progress in this sphere, did they embark upon the path of becoming an economic giant.

He said a monitoring system, which would overlook various projects related to women and child welfare, was being set up to track the progress in the implementation of projects funded by the department of women and child development to be implemented by all state governments by July.

Joshi said the implementation of the system would help in monitoring various projects besides checking malpractices, if any.

PTI