Govt works on a plan to make girl child an ‘asset’

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has proposed a benefit of insurance...

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has proposed a benefit of insurance for girl children to address problems like female foeticide and declining sex ratio in the country.

According to Government figures, around 10 million girls have been killed by their parents either before or immediately after birth over the past 20 years. Initially, the Government proposes to spend about Rs 15 crore on the scheme. However, it has an intention to take more states in the loop and increase the amount.

Officials in the ministry said the family of the girl will have an important role to play in the new scheme. Money will be given to the girl only if the parents adhere to certain conditions set by the ministry. “This will motivate them to not kill their girls as they are always seen as liabilities for economically-backward people,” said a senior official in the ministry.

Under the insurance scheme, officials from the ministry will track the life of girls till the age of 18. “The parents will have to adhere to conditions like birth registration of the girl child, immunisation, retention in school and that she should be unmarried till 18 years of age,” said the official.

The Government proposes to start with the scheme in 11 blocks in Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Jharkhand and Punjab. “Being educationally and economically backward, these are the areas where female foeticide is rampant,” said the official.

“While Punjab is not economically backward, cases are rampant there too. We have taken Punjab in the loop to check if money really matters in this problem,” the official said.

The United Nations too has warned India in the past about the problem. It had estimated that 2000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India.