Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao ( Save the Daughter, Educate the Daughter) is a campaign launched by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. It mainly targets the clusters in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Background

The

child sex ratio In India, the child sex ratio is defined as the number of females per thousand males in the age group 0–6 years in a human population. Thus it is equal to 1000 x the reciprocal of the sex ratio (ratio of males to females in a population) in t ...

in India had been going down at an alarming rate. In the population census of 2011, the

in India was 919 females of girls aged 0 to 6 years old. During the 2014

International Day of the Girl Child International Day of the Girl Child is an international observance day declared by the United Nations; it is also called the Day of Girls and the International Day of the Girl. October 11, 2012, was the first Day of the Girl Child. The observatio ...

, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

asked the public to help end

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

against girls in India. Beti Bachao Beti Pedhao

The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme was launched on 22 January 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It aims to address the issue of the declining child sex ratio image (CSR) and is a national initiative jointly run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is an Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India. The Minister of Health and Family Welfare ...

and the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. It initially focused on multi-sector action in 100 districts throughout the country where there was a low CSR On 26 August 2016, Olympics 2016 bronze medallist

Sakshi Malik Sakshi Malik (born 3 September 1992) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. She is a part of t ...

was made the brand ambassador for BBBP. The hashtag #SelfieWithDaughter was promoted on social media in June 2015, which started when Sunil Jaglan the

Sarpanch A sarpanch ( IAST: ''Sarpañch'' Hindi: ''सरपंच'') or Gram Pradhan or Mukhiya is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the Gram Sabha (village government) in India. The Sarp ...

of the village Bibipur,

Jind Jind is one of the largest and oldest city in Jind district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is administrative headquarter of Jind district. Rani Talab is the main destination for tourists while Pandu-Pindara and Ramrai are the main religiou ...

took a

selfie A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as F ...

with his daughter Nandini and posted on Facebook on 9 June 2015. The hashtag garnered worldwide fame.

Reasons for this initiative

Sex-selective abortion Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of Eas ...

or female foeticide has led to a sharp drop in the ratio of girls born in contrast to boy infants in some states in India. Ultrasound technology has made it possible for pregnant women and their families to learn the sex of a foetus early in a pregnancy. Discrimination against girl infants, for several reasons, has combined with the technology to result in a rise in abortions of foetuses identified as female during ultrasonic testing. The trend was first noticed when results of the 1991 national census were released and were confirmed to be a worsening problem when results of the 2001 national census were released. The reduction in the female population of certain Indian states continues to worsen, as results of the 2011 national census have shown. It has been observed that the trend is most pronounced in relatively prosperous regions of India. The

dowry system in India The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that the bride's family gives to the groom, his parents and his relatives as a condition of the marriage. Dowry is referred to dahez in Hindi and as ''jahez ...

is often blamed; the expectation that a large

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

must be provided for daughters for them to marry is frequently cited as a major cause for the problem. Pressure for parents to provide large dowries for their daughters is most intense in prosperous states where high standards of living, and modern consumerism, are more prevalent in Indian society. Rates of

female foeticide Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of Eas ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

are increasing; the rate of live births was 932 girls per 1000 boys in 2001, which dropped to 918 by 2011. It is expected that if this trend continues, by 2021 the number of girls will drop below 900 per 1000 boys.

Support

The Govt of India has formed a National Executive Committee to promote Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) across the country. The committee is organizing several programs to promote "Save Girl Child" and "to Educate Girl Child" since January 2015. Dr. Rajendra Phadke is the National Convener of BBBP Abhiyan. The Beti Bachao campaign is also supported by the

Indian Medical Association The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is a national voluntary organisation of physicians in India. It was established in 1928 as the All India Medical Association, and was renamed the Indian Medical Association in 1930. It is a society registered ...

Effectiveness

The

Comptroller and Auditor General of India The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is the supreme audit institution of India, established under Article 148 of the Constitution of India. They are empowered to audit all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the S ...

(CAG) reported that the scheme failed to meet its objectives. As per the CAG data, the sex ratio has deteriorated in many districts of Haryana and Punjab. According to the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, only ₹5 crores of a total of ₹43 crores allotted for the scheme in the financial year 2016-2017 was properly used. As per the government data, more than 56% of funds were spent on publicity from 2014-15 to 2018-19. Less than 25% of the funds were released to districts and states, and the government did not release more than 19 percent of the funds. Minister of state Ministry of Women and Child Development,

Virendra Kumar Khatik Virendra Kumar Khatik (born 27 February 1954) is an Indian politician serving as the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment. He is a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from Tikamgarh. He was also the chairperson of the Standing Co ...

, claimed that the sex ratio in 53 out of 161 districts under the scheme declined between 2014–15 and 2016-17. According to experts, the scheme's minimal success is due to the government's inability to release funds efficiently and its disproportionate focus on publicity rather than making initiatives in the health and education sectors. In 2021, in Lok Sabha, according to the

Parliamentary committee on the Empowerment of Women The Parliamentary committees are established to study and deal with various matters that cannot be directly handled by the legislature due to their volume. They also monitor the functioning of the executive branch. The Parliamentary committees ...

, 78.91% funds for 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' were spent on ads.

References

{{Government Schemes in India Government schemes in India Sex selection in India Modi administration initiatives Women's education in India Women's rights in India Articles created or expanded during Women's History Month (India) - 2015 2015 establishments in India