The Inside ‘n Out – Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme

In Articles
January 9, 2016

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao – Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child

Who launched the scheme?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao on January 22, 2015 in Panipat, Haryana.

Initial Corpus

With an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore, the scheme has been launched in a hundred districts across the country. This is a joint initiative of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

What are the Objectives of the Scheme?

Prevention of gender biased sex selective elimination
Ensuring survival & protection of the girl child
Ensuring education and participation of the girl child

Why GOI Launched this scheme?

The 2011 reveals that there is a declining trend in Child Sex Ratio in the age group of 0 to 6 years. In 2001 it was 927 girls per 1000 boys. In 2011 it was reduced to 919 for 1000 boys. GOI launched the scheme to encourage birth and education of girls and tackle the abysmally low child sex ratio. The scheme aims at making girls independent both socially as also financially through education.

What’s Shocking?

With the help of modern diagnostic tools for sex determination of the unborn, aborting female foetus has become more rampant in the country.
The social biases favour the male child on consideration of economic advantages.
Nearly 2000 girls are killed every day in the country.
The elimination continues even after birth in different forms of discrimination in matters of health, nutritional and educational needs of the girl child.
A girl child is considered a liability and outside commodity and is deprived of good food and nutrition.

Advertisements by Govt

The latest advertisements in the Television are making the audience more human in this perspective. The campaigns are boosting the morals of people and helping the unspoken to reach out.

What are the Immediate Issues to be Tackled?

Awareness on gender equality
Education for women
Medical aid and health issues
Safety in public transport system
Women safety cells
Campaigns on sensitization towards women and children

What is the Action Plan?

Promore early registration of pregnancy and institutional delivery.
Ensure panchayats display gutta-guddi board with number of newborn boys and girls every month.
Hold panchayata responsible for child marriage.
Create parliamentary forum of MPs representing 100 districts.

There are two main inequalities as pointed out by Amartya Sen: educational inequality and health inequality.

Related GK Points

GOI named Madhuri Dixit as the brand ambassador of `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao` campaign.
Haryana government named Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra as the brand ambassador for the ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ campaign.
India ranks 130 of 155 countries on Gender Inequality Index.
Regions with high female literacy states—Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil nadu, Karnataka and Goa—have shown less discrimination towards girls.
However, in the past 20 years, high female literacy has not stopped Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan from showing increased discrimination against girls.
The sharpest decline for the age group of zero to six years is observed in the Northern States particularly in Punjab (793 per 1000 females) and Haryana (820 per 1000 females).

Save Girl Child

Girls are biologically stronger than boys and must receive adequate nutrition, health care facilities and education. They must be given equal opportunities to explore themselves and prove their capabilities. Women are the best players of the society to bring in vigor, harmony, cooperation, humanity and eventually transforming the society into a compassionate and peaceful place to live in.