NEW DELHI: The Centre’s flagship programme ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ appears to have failed its purpose a majority of the states and UTs, including Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh, recorded a decline in the sex ratio at birth (SRB) in the last three years.
Of the total 36 states (28) and UTs (8), 13 witnessed a drop in the SRB (a parameter to see the scheme’s progress) while eight recorded no significant change. The remaining 15 recorded a rise.
The highest improvement was in Ladakh where 1,023 girls were born for every 1,000 boys in 2022-23. Haryana saw a drop of 11 points, Chandigarh 35, Puducherry 38 and Himachal Pradesh 12, the Ministry of Women and Child Development informed the Lok Sabha in reply to a question on the scheme’s implementation.
“As per the NITI Aayog’s evaluation report, the scheme has been able to generate significant awareness against gender discrimination. It has developed several good practices and community-level initiatives,” the ministry said.
PM Narendra Modi had launched the scheme on January 22, 2015, to help improve the skewed sex ratio.