New Delhi: The Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi today said that the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme of the Government is doing extremely well and has shown very encouraging results. She was replying to a starred question in the Lok Sabha today. Smt Maneka Gandhi said that in the first year of its launch, the BBBP scheme was taken up in 100 districts and at the end of the first year itself, 58 districts have shown an increasing trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB). In the second year, the scheme was taken up in 161 districts, out of which 104 districts have shown an increasing trend in Sex Ratio at Birth. Some of the districts which have performed very well include North District in Sikkim, Karnal, Cuddalore, Ghaziabad, Mansa, Rewari among others. The States of Haryana and Rajasthan have shown the best result and have also been awarded, the Minister added.
In reply to a supplementary question, WCD Minister explained that performance of the scheme depends a great deal on the individual enthusiasm and ability of the District Collectors. 10 districts have been felicitated by the WCD Ministry for the outstanding work done by them including Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir, Jhunjhunun in Rajasthan, Osmanabad in Maharashtra, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Cuddalcore in Tamil Nadu, Raigarh in Chhatisgarh, Yamuna Nagar in Haryana, Mansa in Punjab.
In reply to another supplementary, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that all States except West Bengal have implemented the BBBP programme. She disclosed that some of the districts which have shown disappointing trend in SRB include Etawaha, Saharanpur, Bijnore, Pithoragarh, Haridwar, Kolkata among others. The Minster disclosed that special attention is being paid to the districts which are lagging behind in SRB including holding of weekly and monthly conferences with DCs/Nodal Officers, training of Master Trainers who further train people working on the ground, working with the health departments for effective implementation of PC & PNDT Act and institutional deliveries among others. The WCD Ministry is also placing dedicated man power in each district under its newly launched scheme of Mahila Shakti Kendras which will work by motivating the local people.
The Minister said that the BBBP scheme can not be successful without the active involvement of the people since it is a problem of mindset existing since times immemorial. Several initiatives have been taken up by the Government including display of birth statistics in public places through Guddi-Gudda boards (example- Jalgaon district in Maharashtra has installed digital Guddi-Gudda display boards in offices and public places); all government buildings/public offices/public vehicles etc are using BBBP logo as in Haryana and Chandigarh; celebration of birth of the girl child, plantation drives, prevention of child marriages (as byCuddalore, Tamil Nadu), Campaigns like ‘Selfie with Daughter’, appointing local champions on Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, felicitation of best panchayats, enrollment campaigns focusing on girl child education and holding special gram sabha/mahila sabha on the issue of declining child sex ratio, which are making a lot of impact at the ground level.
Similarly, the Ministry is running a sustained advocacy campaign at Pan India level on all media platforms including Radio, cinema, digital media, mobile education vans and field level programmes. The campaign has reached out to the masses through radio spots on 140 radio stations across the country, TV spots on 139 channels and 4.5 Crore people have been reached through mass SMS campaign. The Minister disclosed that 2371 court/police cases have been lodged and 114 medical licenses have been suspended under the PC & PNDT Act.
In reply to another supplementary question, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that several states are implementing girl child incentive schemes like Ladli Lakshmi Yojana in Madhya Pradesh, Ladli in Haryana, Mamta in Goa, Saraswati Cycle Yojana in Chattisgarh, Balika Samridhi Yojana in Manipur among others. All these schemes have shown a very good response, she said.
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