"Let us celebrate the birth of the girl child. We should be equally proud of our daughters. I urge you to sow five plants when your daughter is born to celebrate the occasion." Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India has struggled with ingrained preconceptions about the duties and potential of girls. The mindset around the girl child has been influenced by stereotypes, which limit her perceived potential. These prejudices range from discriminatory actions to traditional expectations of homemaking. Due to this, India witnessed a consistent decline in the Child Sex Ratio (CSR) since 1961, which led to women's disempowerment across the nation, reflecting both pre-birth discrimination through gender-biased sex selection and post-birth discrimination against girls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi challenged the old school mentality that girls are instead a liability and launched the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme on January 22, 2015, to celebrate the birth of a Girl Child, catalyzing a shift in societal attitudes towards ensuring the survival, protection, and education of girls.
The program was launched through a tri-ministerial effort of the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in Panipat, Haryana, to address the issue of decline in CSR and related issues of empowerment of girls and women over a life cycle continuum. It focused on creating awareness, advocating for the value of the girl child, and improving the declining child-sex ratio in various states. The initiative involves a three-pronged approach: prevention of gender-biased sex selection, ensuring survival and protection of the girl child, and promoting her education and participation.
In Phase 1, the scheme commenced with 100 districts, and in Phase 2, it was expanded to include 61 additional districts. This initiative has garnered positive reception and has effectively positioned gender identity as a national priority. An improved trend of 15 points at the National level from 918 (2014-15) to 933 (2022- 23) was registered for Sex Ratio at Birth.
Following the scheme's implementation, several districts with extremely low Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) in 2014–15 have significantly improved. These include Mau in Uttar Pradesh, Karnal in Haryana, Mahendergarh in Haryana, Rewari in Haryana, and Patiala in Punjab.
Various secondary and tertiary benefits followed from the awareness campaigns, community mobilization activities, and targeted interventions integral to the BBBP initiative as women's lifecycle received the handholding. The number of women enrolled in higher education increased by 50 lakh students since 2014–15; percentage of institutional deliveries has also shown an improvement from 87% in 2014-15 to 94.8% in 2020-21, percentage of 1st trimester Antenatal Care (ANC) Registration has shown improvement from 61% in 2014-15 to 73.9% in 2020-21 and 42.3 % increase in Female Minority Student enrolment since 10.7 lakh in 2014-15.
The BBBP program challenged long-standing prejudices against girls and introduced cutting-edge methods to honour them. People have responded favourably to and adopted the BBBP logo. Individuals are voluntarily using the BBBP emblem to support the cause on various items, including school buses, buildings, stationery, and transportation vehicles. Popular Indian holidays, including Lohri, Kalash Yatra, Rakhi, Ganesh Chaturdashipandal, and the Festival of Flowers, have all mentioned logos.
In a nutshell, BBBP has brought the value of the girl child to the nation's attention. This initiative, by valuing women's contributions to society, has alleviated unfair access to resources as well as discriminatory treatment of girl children before birth. There has been a notable increase in public awareness and sensitivity regarding the issue of Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and the requirement of care that women be provided after giving delivery for a healthy upbringing of the child, especially for the girl child. Overall, the scheme has played a significant role in boosting women's economic, social, and cultural empowerment in India. No wonder daughters in Bharat are encouraged today as they achieve in various fields, such as athletics, politics, entertainment, the corporate world, wrestling, etc.
