The Girl Child – Investing in the Future
Welcome to the world of the
girl child. Her story across India is promising yet gloomy, hopeful yet mired
in despair.
A girl child is the hand that
rocks the cradle, the procreator, and the mother of tomorrow. A woman shapes
the destiny of civilization.
Indian history is full of
examples of successful women who have been leaders in various walks of life.
Yet the irony is that a creation as beautiful as the girl child is also one of
the gravest concerns facing India due to many cultural factors.
Realising this, Indian
governments have undertaken progressive legislation and have implemented
several schemes from time to time. Yet more needs to be done not only to ensure
her survival and also to help her realise her full potential.
One such effort initiated by
the United Progressive Alliance Government in 2008 is the observance of
National Girl Child Day on January 24 every year.
The reason January 24 was
chosen is that on this day in 1966 Mrs. Indira Gandhi took over as the first
woman Prime Minister of India.
Children in the age group 0–6
years constitute around 158 million of the population of India as per the 2011
census. These children in the age group of 0-6 are future human resource of the
country.
Then, why celebrate just
National Girl Child Day? The reason is obvious: the girl child continues to be
the most vulnerable member of Indian society.
The 2011 Census shows that
there has been an improvement in social indicators such as literacy and the gender
gap in effective literacy development rate and that the overall sex ratio has
improved from 933 to 940. However, at an age-group wise dis-aggregated level,
the Census shows a decline in the ratio of girls per thousand boys in the 0 to
6 age group, i.e. in the Child Sex Ratio as compared to 914 in 2011 from 927 in
the 2001 Census.
The latest Census clearly shows
that decline in Child Sex Ratio has now been witnessed in as many as 22 States
and 5 Union Territories. The National Family Health Survey-3 data on under
nutrition in children below 5 years had already flagged that 43 per cent of
girls are under-nourished.
Through this campaign, the
government has highlighted the inequalities encountered by the girl child.
NATIONAL GIRL CHILD DAY:
OBJECTIVES
Armed with more than half a
dozen objectives, the government, along with other stakeholders, is trying to
ensure the girl child survives and succeeds with dignity and respect in a
male-dominated society.
· To increase the awareness and offer new
opportunities to the girl child.
· To remove all the inequalities faced by
the girl children.
· To ensure that every girl child is
getting proper respect, human rights and value in the Indian society.
· To work against diminishing the child
sex ratio and fight the social stigma against the girl child.
· To initiate couple towards the girl
child by increasing awareness about the importance and role of the girl child.
· To address the girl children issues
associated to their health, education, nutrition etc.
· To propagate the gender equality
WHAT WILL NATIONAL GIRL CHILD DAY
CELEBRATIONS ACHIEVE? It attempts to attack the prevailing mindset and
ensure that even before a girl is born she is not viewed as a burden and that
she does not becomes a victim of violence or female foeticide.
Legislative Measures
For meeting these challenges, the government
is stressing on the importance of three 'A's, i.e. Advocacy, Awareness and
Affirmative action. Some of the important legislative measures taken so far
include:-
· Banning Sex determination during
pregnancy and Policies & programmes for rewarding the girl child
· Restricting Child marriages
· Improving Antenatal care for all the
pregnant women
· Introduction of “Save the Girl Child”
scheme
· Free and compulsory primary school
education for both boys and girls till 14 years of age.
· Reservation of 1/3 seats in the local
government for women.
· School children are well availed with
the uniforms, noon meal and educational materials and schemes of higher
learning for SC and ST girls.
· Balwadi-cum-creeches.
· The Open Learning System has been
established for easiness to the girls of backward areas.
· Self-Help Groups initiated in various states
is helping girls in rural areas access better livelihood opportunities
OTHER AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONS
The Women and Child Development
Ministry had implemented a scheme called “Dhanalaksmi” to make cash transfer to
the girl child family to fulfil the basic needs such as immunization, birth
registration, school enrolment and maintenance up to the Class VIII.
Another equally important
scheme is the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls
(RGSEAG)–‘Sabla’, a Centrally-sponsored scheme introduced in the year 2010-11
on a pilot basis. Sabla aims at all-round development of adolescent girls of
11-18 years (with a focus on out of school girls) and is being implemented in
205 districts from all the States/UTs.
Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY)
implemented since 2006-07 as a component under the centrally sponsored
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme seeks to empower adolescent
girls in terms of nutritional, health and family care, learning life skills and
going back to school. Currently KSY is being implemented in 6118 blocks in the
country.
FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT
To commemorate National Girl
Child Day in 2014, India Post is launching a special drive for opening of new
Saving Bank (SB) accounts in the name of each girl child. The drive starts from
January 24 and will conclude on 28.
The objective of the drive is
to secure the future of girl child by motivating them to open a small savings
bank account.
This facility is available in
all 4480 Post offices of North Karnataka Region covering all villages. Under
this scheme, each account fetches 4 percent interest per annum and depositor
can make any number of transactions. The executives will visit all schools to
help each school going girl child to have one SB account in her name.
PROTECTING AGAINST SEXUAL ABUSE
The Integrated Child Protection
Scheme being implemented since 2009-10 and Childline services is also
addressing the issue of safety and security of girl child in India.
Top policy makers realised how
child abuse is shrouded in secrecy and there is a conspiracy of silence around
the entire subject. In 2005 the Ministry of Women and Child Development
undertook a study to examine the extent and magnitude of child abuse in India.
As a result a special law - the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences
Act, 2012 - was passed by Parliament in May, 2012 to address this issue.
CHILD BUDGETING
Child Budgeting introduced in
the Union Budget for 2008-09 by the UPA government aims at providing for
Schemes for the Welfare of Children. Initially it covered the “Demands for
Grants” with child-specific schemes from Ministries of Women and Child
Development, Human Resource Development, Health and Family Welfare, Labour and
Employment, Social Justice & Empowerment, Tribal Affairs, Minority Affairs,
Youth Affairs and Sports. Currently the 'Child Budgeting' statement covers 18
“Demands for Grants” from Union Ministries/Departments of Atomic Energy,
Industrial Policy, Posts, Telecommunication, and Information and Broadcasting
among others), marking a significant increase from an initial Budget. This
along with the Gender Budgeting is likely to improve opportunities for girl
child to survive and succeed in India.
NATIONAL CHILD POLICY RESOLUTION
ADOPTED
To affirm its commitment to the
rights based approach in addressing the continuing and emerging challenges in
the situation of children, the Government of India had adopts this Resolution
on the National Policy for Children, 2013. The document calls for a
comprehensive review of this Policy once in five years in consultation with all
stakeholders, including children. The Ministry of Women and Child Development
will lead the review process.
CONCLUSION
Protecting a girl child in
India should not be limited to observing National Girl Child Day every year.
Instead armed with strong legislative measures, the governments and other
stakeholders - the community, civil society, business houses, neighbourhood and
parents – must play a strong role to secure a safe life for the girl child in
order to build a better society, better future and a better India.
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Author - K. S.
Narayanan (A Freelance Writer.) Source - PIB
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