Beti Bachao Beti Padhao to move to ‘zero publicity’; extends benefits to adolescents, married couple

After facing increasing criticism for its ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme’s focus on publicity, the Modi government announced on Thursday that it will now aim for “zero publicity” and move towards greater spending on increasing participation of girls in sports.

According to the government, the scheme will now be extended to adolescent boys, newly married couples and expecting parents. The other focus areas of the scheme will include awareness of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act 1994—a legislation aimed at preventing female foeticide, self-defence camps, construction of toilets for girls, and making sanitary napkin vending machines.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said it will also try to link the Beti Bachao scheme with Khelo India sports scheme, and that it will cover all districts of every state—increasing it from the previous 405 districts it was operational in.

The Beti Bachao Scheme, launched in 2015, has been criticised for under-utilisation; in December 2021, a parliamentary committee said since its inception, 80 per cent of the funds was spent on media publicity and recommended that the scheme moved focus to areas of health and education.

The ministry also announced that it will launch One Stop Centres in 300 locations where the rate of crime against women is high. Nari Adalats—a panchayat-level redressal mechanism—was also announced.

The women and child development ministry made the announcement as part of the guidelines it issued for Mission Shakti—the segment dedicated to schemes for women—after the ministry was trifurcated earlier this year.

Mission Shakti is an umbrella scheme which encompasses the ministry’s key women schemes. This includes the women helpline, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, apart from the One Stop Centres and the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao schemes.

The segment is divided under two sub-sections, Sambal and Samarthya. The Sambal will cover schemes for safety and security of women such as the One Stop Centre, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, women helpline, etc. The Samarthya section will oversee women empowerment schemes, such as Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh and working women hostels.

While the Nari Adalats were announced under the Sambal section, another new addition—Gap Funding for Economic Empowerment—has been announced under the Samarthya segment.

DH had earlier reported that the ministry had trifurcated its schemes under three sections, including Mission Vatsalya for children’s schemes, Mission Shakti for women schemes and Mission Poshan for schemes for nutrition of women and children. Guidelines for Mission Vatsalya were issued last week, and the guidelines for Mission Poshan are expected soon.

As part of the objectives of the Beti Bachao scheme, the ministry said that it aims to improve Sex Ratio at Birth by two points every year, improve percentage of institutional deliveries at 95 per cent or above, and increase ANC (antenatal care) registration of pregnant women in the first trimester by per year by 1 per cent.

Another focus area would be to increase enrolment of girls and women at secondary education level by 1 per cent per year, curbing dropout rate among schoolgirls, and raise awareness about safe menstrual hygiene management.