The Centre will celebrate the “National Girl Child Day” on Thursday, which also coincides with the fourth anniversary of the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” scheme, one of the Narendra Modi government’s flagship programmes, a government statement said.
The move comes amid criticism over the fund utilisation under the scheme after government data revealed that more than 56% of funds allocated have been utilised in media-related activities since 2014-15.
The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme — which aims to address skewed gender ratio as well as to empower young women — was launched in January 2015 in Panipat. Activists claim the government is splurging a huge amount of money on “self-promotion”.
“Government data shows that for the Modi government, ‘Beti Bachao’ is meant purely for the purposes of self promotion and self advertisement of the prime minister and not for women’s welfare. They talk of National Girl Child Day even as RSS and BJP unleash attacks on girls and women...and protect those accused of sexual harassment and rape,” said women’s rights activist Kavita Krishnan.