Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao!

By Kanan Malik

The ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme started on January 22, 2015 is an undertaking by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development. Through this scheme, the idea is to empower girl children via collective effort of these government bodies.

First, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ was initiated in 100 districts, which have a low girl child sex ratio. Seeing the impact and effectiveness of this initiative, it was then spread to all parts of the nation. The campaign simply means to save the daughter and give her wings of knowledge. Olympic bronze medallist, Sakshi Malik, became the brand ambassador for this scheme in August 2016.

In my view, girls and boys are equal. Be it a son or a daughter, both deserve similar treatment, respect and care. In many states, the condition of young girls is still appalling and that needs to be improved.

Since the announcement of this scheme, there seems to be an improvement in the status of women and children in many districts. These days, women also are paving their way in all kinds of fields such as politics, engineering, medicine, just to name a few. More than ever before, they are now motivated to become financially independent.

Our legal system is also supporting these initiatives and taking up complaints, cases of discrimination against women on speedy basis.

Therefore, it’s important that we do our bit in encouraging every woman and girl, and make the best use of this government initiative.