The Bihar Government appears to have made nearly one million mothers happy with the stroke of a pen. The State has designed a scheme to eliminate female foeticide/infanticide by ensuring that each of the mothers would get Rs 18,000 when their daughters reached the age of 18 years.
The government deposits Rs 2,000 on behalf of every girl child born from Below Poverty Line families with UTI AMC's ‘children career plan' for the purpose.
The Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, credited the success of the programme to the Anganwadi Sevika, who he said was instrumental in disseminating information among the masses. Of the 9.1lakh beneficiaries, 54.8 per cent had received the bond from UTI for the amount, while 25 per cent have applied for it and the rest were yet to apply as children have just been born.
Birth in hospitals has increased from 11.1 per cent to 62.7 per cent. More importantly, Mr Kumar said there has been an attitudinal shift towards the girl child.
The State government is hopeful that the scheme would in course of time bring about an attitudinal change and reduce gender bias among the lower strata of society.
Overall, it appears to have brought down the immediate gloom that descends on families when the girl child is born.
In terms of prenatal care and immunisation, the numbers of have shown a quantum leap. Women are more prepared to have health check during pregnancy and awareness of having a small family is on the rise.
Under the scheme ‘Mukhya Mantri Kanya Suraksha Yojana', the government estimates that it would benefit seven lakh girl children with an investment of Rs 140 crore annually. About 80.55 per cent of BPL families are said to have been covered so far under the programme begun in November 2007.
According to Census (2001), the sex ratio in Bihar was 921 females for 1,000 males, which was lower than the national average of 933:1,000.