*Centre to assess impact of scheme in July
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 5: Keeping in view their depressing scenario vis-à-vis Child Sex Ratio (CSR), the Union Government has extended Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme to 10 more districts of Jammu and Kashmir. With this, the State has become major beneficiary of tri-ministerial initiative as the number of districts covered under this scheme has gone up to 15.
The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, a brain child of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was launched on January 22, 2015 with the objective to curb and prevent not only the decline in Child Sex Ratio but also to ensure women’s empowerment over a life cycle continuum.
To make the programme holistic, efforts have been undertaken to address different aspects of the issue that challenges the survival of girl child. The scheme is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
The key elements of the scheme include awareness and advocacy campaign, enabling girls’ education and effective enforcement of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act.
Following the launch of this scheme, five districts of Jammu and Kashmir—Jammu, Pulwama, Kathua, Budgam and Anantnag were selected for coverage under BBBP. These districts were chosen keeping in view significant declining trend in Child Sex Ratio.
As per the census of 2001, there were 819 girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years in Jammu district but the figure declined to 795 girls per 1000 boys as per the census of 2011. Similarly, there were 1046 girls per 1000 boys in Pulwama in 2001 but the figure fell considerably to 829 girls per 1000 boys in 2011.
Likewise, the number of girls per 1000 boys in Kathua declined to 831 as per the census of 2011 in comparison to the 847 figure of 2001 census. Budgam district had 963 girls per 1000 boys in 2001 but the figure dropped to 832 in 2011 while as in Anantnag district against 977 girls per 1000 boys as per 2001 census the number decreased to 841 in 2011.
“As the scheme has apparently started yielding positive results vis-à-vis checking declining trend in Child Sex Ratio, the Union Government has extended the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao to 10 more districts of Jammu and Kashmir, which are also on the list of gender critical districts”, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
These 10 districts are Samba, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Rajouri, Srinagar, Shopian, Kupwara, Kulgam, Udhampur and Bandipora. Among these districts, Samba, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Rajouri and Srinagar are on top of the list with extremely lowest Child Sex Ratio.
As per the statistics, there were 798 girls per 1000 boys as per 2001 census in Samba district but this figure declined to 779 in 2011. In Baramulla and Ganderbal districts, there were 961 and 1014 girls respectively per 1000 boys in 2001 but the figure declined to 863 each during 2011. Similarly, there were 905 and 983 girls per 1000 boys in Rajouri and Srinagar districts in 2001 but the number fell considerably to 865 each in 2011.
In Shopian district there were 1011 girls per thousand boys during 2001 but the number declined to 878 in 2011 while as in Kupwara the number decreased to 879 girls per 1000 boys in 2011 from 1021 during 2001. In the census of 2011, the number of girls per thousand boys was recorded at 885 against 1003 in the census of 2001 in Kulgam district.
The Udhampur district recorded 886 girls per thousand boys in census 2011 as against 912 girls per 1000 boys in census of 2001 while as Bandipora district recorded 892 girls per thousand boys in census 2011 as against 967 in census of 2001.
“Though apparently there is positive result of the scheme on ground, the Union Government has decided to assess the impact of the scheme in the month of July after obtaining the data on certain important aspects from the State Government”, sources disclosed.
Stating that inter-departmental convergent action is central to the success of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, sources said that activities like institutional delivery and child care services; immunization campaign; awareness camps; institutional consultations; development of education and information material; improved healthcare facilities for women etc are being undertaken in the health sector under the scheme.
Similarly, maintaining register of pregnant and lactating women; village register of births and reported pregnancies at Anganwadi Centres are the activities being undertaken under Integrated Child Development Scheme. As far as education sector is concerned, survey of out-of-school girl child and their education, school catchment area survey, special emphasis on marginalized groups etc are the activities being carried out by the concerned authorities.
Survey of girl child family-wise, maintaining record of births and constant tally with institutional deliveries in hospitals, promoting gender sensitive awareness, maintaining strict vigil on illegal attempts of abortion and frequent checks to find out violation of PC&PNDT Act are the other activities being carried out to make the scheme successful.
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