AMN / WEB DESK
The National Girl Child Day is being observed today. The day is observed for focusing attention on ensuring equal opportunities to the girl child. Government has given a lot of emphasis on the issue of girl child’s education of and declining Child Sex Ratio.
In January 2015, Narendra Modi government had launched Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme with an objective to address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio. Mr Modi had said that there is an urgent need to reduce the increasing imbalance amongst the girl and boy child for the betterment of the society.
Mr Modi launched the all India expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao covering all 640 districts in 2018.
The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme has completed five year. The main objective of the scheme is to prevent gender biased sex selective elimination and ensure survival and protection of the girl child.
The scheme also ensures education and participation of the girl child through coordinated and convergent efforts. It is a central sector scheme with 100 percent financial assistance for district level components and the funds are directly released to the Development Commissioner and District Magistrate account.
The child sex ratio, which was 918 in 2014-15 has improved to 934 in 2019-20 after the implementation of this scheme. The gross enrollment ratio has also improved from around 77 per cent to over 81 per cent.
The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme has been able to bring the focus on important issue of female infanticide, lack of education amongst girls and deprivation of their rights on a life cycle continuum.
The scheme has successfully engaged with Community to defy the age old biases against the girl child and introduce innovative practices to celebrate the girl child.