BETI BACHAO, BETI PADHAO!
Even after seventy years of India’s independence, it is quite shameful that cases of honor killing, female foeticide, and gender discrimination, are still prevalent in society. The Indian society treats women almost always as a dependant, if not objectified as a possession in rural setups. All this is happening, despite women being an essential component of our community, with their roles varying from mother to sister to wife to daughter; the list is not exhaustive. But the rising crimes against women have resulted in a consistently decreasing sex ratio in India. It is the need of the hour to save the girl child to maintain the balance of nature because men and women are interdependent entities meant to coexist in nature.
India has got a rich heritage and history in every possible field like technology, education, science, literature, politics, social work, and leadership. And many women leaders, scientists, sportspersons and actresses, have made India proud with their work. In order to continue this heritage, we need to protect the girl child. Many initiatives have been taken up by the Indian Government and NGOs to protect and save the girl child, and “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana” is one of the most pertinent. If life is a fundamental right of any human being then the who are we take away this right to live from female infants.
The world celebrates October 11th as the International Girl Child Day, which focuses on issues faced by a girl child such as gender inequality, female infanticide, inability to access education, healthcare, legal rights and protection against discrimination. The “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana” is meant for disseminating awareness and addressing the issues that plague the girl child. It is a social campaign aimed at creating awareness and improving the efficiency of welfare services intended for girls.
The campaign was introduced in October 2014 to address the issue of declining child sex ratio and was officially launched on 22nd January 2015 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi in Panipat, Haryana. The initiative succeeded in gaining support from the masses of India. In August 2016, Olympic 2016 bronze medallist Sakshi Malik was made the brand ambassador of the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” initiative in Haryana. To use the power of the Internet and social media, the Prime Minister introduced #SelfieWithDaughter hashtag to create awareness about the importance of saving a girl child which gained fame worldwide.
To make this campaign successful, the government planned many strategies such as implementing a long term social media presence and awareness campaign to promote education of the girl child; emphasizing on areas with low child sex ratio for intense efforts; ensuring that future programs are efficient and responsive to issues of gender and children’s rights; and working on the issue of decreasing child sex ratio through awareness. To maintain the delicate balance of gender ratio and resolve other problems faced by girls in India and around the world, prompt actions and greater awareness would be essential.
