Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Objectives & Achievements - UPSC Editorials

Context: On January 22, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the initiative Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) with a specific aim of improving the degraded child sex ratio (CSR) and enhancing the status of the girl child in India. Ten years later, the results of the programme hint at the extent of progress and what remains to be focused on.

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Key Objectives of BBBP

Some of the significant goals of the BBBP program include the following:

• Prevent Gender-Based Discrimination: Prevention of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide will address the issue of gender-based discrimination.
• Ensure Survival and Protection: Improvement in health, nutrition, and safety conditions of girls will ensure survival and protection.
• Promote Education: Incentives for education: introduction of scholarships and cash transfer schemes to encourage girls' education.
• Community Mobilization: changing perceptions, and value of the girl child, community participation.
• Incentivize Education: Introduce scholarships and cash transfers to encourage girls’ education.

Read the article on the Analysis on Declining Mortality Rates in India!

Achievements of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Initiative

The success of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme for a decade encompasses:

Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB)

• National Trend: SRB improved from 918 females per 1,000 males in 2014-15 to 930 in the provisional data for the year 2023-24.
• State Variability:
  • Improvements: Rajasthan (+54 points), Haryana (+38 points), Himachal Pradesh (+33 points), Gujarat (+29 points).
  • Declines: Odisha (-23 points), Karnataka (-19 points), Bihar (-13 points).
• Observation: Improvement in some states is quite dissimilar from others, which means it is not evenly implemented

Gender Gap in Under-Five Mortality

• Improvement Attained:
  • In 2014, under-five mortality rate was 49 girls and 42 boys; thus, 7-point difference between the sexes.
  • In 2020, the number had the following improvement: 33 girls and 31 boys, thus 2-point difference
• State Variation: The performance of states has been varied and some have shown better results.
• Institutional Deliveries:
  • Huge Increase: Institutional deliveries rose from 78.9% in 2015-16 to 88.6% in 2019-21.

• Expanding Coverage: Institutional deliveries have improved in almost all the states and consequently, health outcomes of mothers and neonates improved.

Antenatal Care

• Increase in First Trimester ANC: 58.6% in 2015-16 to 70% in 2019-21 of the mothers received antenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy.

• Benefit: The only way to decrease maternal mortality and improve pregnancy outcomes.

Girls' Secondary Education

• Slow Progress: The enrollment level increased from 75.5% (2014-15) to 76.9% (2018-19), which was much below the target of 82% in 2018-19.

• Challenge: There is a lack of retention of girls in secondary education.

Read the article on the National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education!

In the next decade, India should focus on inclusive growth, with every girl child surviving, thriving, and achieving.

UPSC Practice Questions

 

Discuss the strategies employed by the government to promote girls' education under the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme. How effective have these strategies been in achieving the desired outcomes? (Ink in 250 words)