Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save the girl child,
educate the girl child) on January 22, 2015 in Panipat, Haryana. The Scheme is a triministerial
effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfareand Human Resource Development. With an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore, the scheme has
been launched in hundred districts across the country. Moreover, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao
scheme comes at a time when the nation is confronted with problems associated with
women’s safety such as rape and other forms of assault. The Government also projected Rs
150 crore to be spent by the Ministry of Home Affairs on a scheme to extend the security of
women in large cities. Moreover, the Union Budget has also allocated to the Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways Rs 50 crore for pilot schemes to safeguard the safety of
women on public road transport. That is a welcome step as this can help restore women’s
faith in the system.
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao is a nation-wide campaign to increase awareness on celebrating
the Girl Child & enabling her education. The campaign was aimed at ensuring girls are
born, nurtured and educated without discrimination to become empowered citizens of this
country with equal rights. The Campaign will interlink National, State and District level
interventions with community level action in 161 districts, bringing together different
stakeholders for accelerated impact.The scheme aims at making girls independent both
socially and also financially through education. This approach of the Government can
facilitate in generating awareness and improving the efficiency of delivery of welfare
services meant for women. This program focuses on challenging mindsets and deep rooted
patriarchy in the societal system, advancing education of the girl child: focus on issues of
women empowerment on a life cycle continuum. The objective of this initiative are the
prevention of gender biased sex selective elimination, ensuring the survival and protection
of the girl child, ensuring education and participation of the girl child.
The practice of aborting female fetus has become more rampant with the availability of
modern diagnostic tools for sex determination of the unborn. With social biases favoring
the male child on consideration of economic advantages and the deep-rooted attitude of
labelling the girl child as more of a liability, the sex ratio in the country has been highly
skewed.The process of elimination continues even after birth in various forms of
discrimination in matters of health, nutritional and educational needs of the girl child.
The strategies used to implement this campaign were the following: to implement a
sustained Social Mobilization and Communication Campaign to create equal value for the
girl child & promote her education. Secondly, to place the issue of decline in CSR/SRB in
public discourse, improvement of which would be an indicator for good governance.
Moreover, to focus on Gender Critical Districts and Cities low on CSR for intensive &
integrated action. Finally to ensure service delivery structures/schemes & programs are
sufficiently responsive to issues of gender and children’s rights. It can be a boon not just for
the girl children but also for the whole society. The formidable project can incorporate the
successes of effective practices for better initiation and implementation. For example, West
Bengal has a system for enabling money transfers at periodic intervals for the child’s
education. In Punjab, pregnant girls are registered in their first trimester so that the
authorities may follow up and monitor cases of foeticide. Another example is Tamil Nadu’s
Amma Baby Care Kit.
However, the initiative, although sensible, has been criticized for the most part by many
people. It is said that the funds allotted are not enough for full implementation of the
scheme. There is need to amend the laws and penalize those who harm the girl child.
There’s also need to educate people at the grassroots level about the rights of the girl child
to live a healthy life.
HEEALS is a non-profit organization settle in Gurgaon, India. In our organization we firmly
believe that to provide the resources, knowledge, expertise and leadership will help the
people and the communities across the states of India to use their skills to improve the
quality of life, environment, education and livelihood and that of future generations.
We want to ensure that through empowering our local communities with knowledge
and education we can begin to eradicate poverty in India. That’s why we educate young
girls during workshops on the importance to finish school and on how rights should be
equal across gender.
- Bene
Wash &MH Intern
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