Bulk of Beti Bachao program funds allegedly spent on advertising

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 12:15:23 +0000

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The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme (BBBP) which was launched with much fanfare to empower the girl child and also help combat the decline in Child Sex Ratio has been a major electoral slogan too. The scheme’s nodal ministry is the Women and Child Development Ministry and it also includes Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Education (Department of School Education and Literacy).

However, a report submitted in Parliament on Thursday, by the Committee on Empowerment of Women, chaired by Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, has made a startling revelation. The Committee has put on record public its “dismay” at the poor utilisation of the amount allocated by the centre for its Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme. It has revealed “Nearly 80 percent of the funds for the scheme has been used for its advertising and not on sectoral interventions such as in health and education for women.” According to a report in the Indian Express, “78.91 percent of the total fund has been spent by the states only on media advocacy.”

The report titled “Empowerment of women through education with special reference to Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme’’ was submitted in Lok Sabha on Thursday. The report noted that “of the Rs 446.72 crore released under the scheme between 2016 and 2019, 78.91 percent was spent on media advocacy, and not on sectoral intervention on health and education for women,” reported the Times of India.

According to the IE report, since the inception of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme, Rs 848 crore had been allocated, and the states were given Rs 622.48 crore (apart from the pandemic period in the financial year of 2020-21) but “only 25.13 percent of the funds, i.e. Rs 156.46 crore, has been spent by the states, reflecting not up to the mark performance”. It has been reported that the committee recommended that the ministry take up the issue with states and “ensure proper utilisation of BBBP funds for the benefit of the girl child,” adding, “The government should…focus on planned expenditure allocation for sectoral interventions in education and health.”

According to the report, nearly 80 percent of the funds for the scheme has been used for its advertising and not on sectoral interventions such as in health and education for women. The committee reportedly stated that “since its inception in 2014-15 till 2019-20, the total budgetary allocation under the scheme was Rs 848 crore, excluding the Covid-stricken. During this period, an amount Rs 622.48 crore was released to the states.”

Commenting on the “whopping 78.91%” spent “only on media advocacy” the committee stated that though it “understands the necessity to undertake a media campaign to spread the message of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao among the people, they have felt that it is equally important to balance the objectives of the scheme.”

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Misogyny at its peak: Haryana CM Khattar on Kashmiri Girls

Sat, 10 Aug 2019 12:33:01 +0000

Now its BJP’s Haryana CM Khattar who stokes controversy with remarks on Kashmiri women

Picture Courtesy: Newsgram

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, now joins a list of BJP elected representatives, making outrightly misogynist remarks on Kashmiri women. He has said that after abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, girls from Kashmir can now be brought for marriage. The chief minister was addressing a State-level function of Maharishi Bhagirath Jayanti Samaroh at Fatehabad.

That his remarks came at a function celebrating ‘Save Our Daughters, Educate our Daughters’ makes it worse not better! Mr. Khattar, who was speaking on the success of Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign in Haryana, said “Our Minister O.P. Dhankar used to say that he will have to bring daughters-in-law from Bihar. People nowadays have started saying the route to Kashmir is cleared and now we will bring girls from Kashmir,” said Mr. Khattar.

The Chief Minister said, “Haryana was infamous due to the low birth rate of daughters. The government launched Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign, due to which the number of girls born per 1,000 boys has increased from 850 to 933. We have to take this number to 1,000.” But not content with this, he added the remark on Kashmiri girls.

Just a few days ago, the abrogation of Article 370, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, had sparked protests and jubilation(s) across the nation. Apart from the debate over the Constitutional legality of this move, what has been appalling is the sharp levels of misogynistic content that is being circulated on the social media. Worse, much of it comes from the elected representatives of the ruling party. Commenting over the ruling regime’s decision, BJP MLA Vikram Saini passed a very sexist statement and said that Muslims in the country should be happy that they can now marry “gori” Kashmiri girls without any fear.

Related Articles:
1.How the abrogation of Article 370 has unleashed the great Indian misogynistic troll
2.’Everything Has Been Lost. Except Our Resolve to Fight Back’: Shah Faesal on Kashmir
3. BJP Delusion – Article 370 of Constitution of India cannot be abrogated

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Bulk of Beti Bachao program funds allegedly spent on advertising

Misogyny at its peak: Haryana CM Khattar on Kashmiri Girls

Now its BJP’s Haryana CM Khattar who stokes controversy with remarks on Kashmiri women