Thanks to the impact of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign most districts struggling with low girl child ratio see cheering improvement
Pramod Kumar
The encouraging improvement in the disturbed girl child sex ratio in Haryana and other states has developed a confidence that the country will soon get rid of this stigma. Thanks to the impact of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save daughter, educate daughter) campaign, not only the sex ratio in Haryana improved from 879 in 2011 to 903 in January 2016, but also the enrollment of girls in schools increased substantially. “The country has started moving towards washing away this stigma. The day is not far when the menace will be completely arrested,” says Dr Rajendra Phadake, national convener of BJP’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Cell.
Joining hands with Prime Minister Shri Modi in the campaigns like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, Namami Gange and Swachh Bharat, the BJP constituted special cells in the organisation involving senior leaders so that these campaigns have good impact at the ground level. A national team for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was announced during the party’s National Executive Meeting in Bangalore in April 2015. “Now we have units up to the village level in all the affected 161 districts and we are working to change the mindset of the people through various activities, says Shri Phadake, who originally belongs to Jalgaon, Maharashtra.
Many top personalities like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Baba Ramdev and some voluntary organisations have also
supported the campaign. The districts with poor girl child ratio are in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, etc. The campaign is divided into two parts—save the
daughter and educate the daughter. Hence, apart from curbing the female feticide, there is focus on increasing the enrolment of girls in schools and
arresting their dropout rate.
“We welcome the girls in schools and also organise meetings with the parents to educate them. There are campaigns against the Sonography Centres also, which indulge in this crime. Some doctors have also actively joined the campaign. One Dr Rakh in Pune does not charge anything on the delivery of a girl. Dr Alka Rai in Gorakhpur also does not charge any fee on the birth of a girl child,” Dr Phadake added.
“An important aspect of our activities is to publicly felicitate the girl achievers. Kanyapujan
programmes are held during Navratras. Different types of competitions are also organised to
generate awareness. We felicitate the parents who have only one or two daughters. Madhya Pradesh has started a good tradition of performing Kanyapujan before the beginning of any public function whether party or government. People are administered the oath of not to indulge in female feticide. Apart from it special schemes have been launched in all the BJP-ruled states to extend help the girls studying in schools through Ladali Laxmi Yojana, Bhagyashri, etc. We educate the people to draw benefit of all such schemes, informs Dr Phadake adding that they are persuading the HRD Ministry to extent the benefits of all such schemes in the Central Schools also. He says if a Central Level Board is constituted by the Central Government involving people from segments of the society, this campaign can show more effective results.
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