AIR Discussions (January 4th Week)
7th February, 2022
AIR SPOTLIGHT NATIONAL GIRL CHILD DAY - RIGHTS OF GIRL CHILD & OPPORTUNITIES
Context:
- National Girl Child Day is celebrated in the country on January 24 every year with an objective to provide support and opportunities to the girls of India.
- It aims towards promoting awareness about the rights of the girl child and to increase awareness on the importance of girl education, and their health and nutrition and also to promote the girls position in the society to make their living better among the society.
- National Girl Child Day was first initiated in 2008 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Objectives of National Girl Child Day:
- The objective of National Girl Child Day is to create awareness about the rights a girl owns and to give girls the opportunities like everyone else, also to support the girl child of the nation and remove gender-based biases.
- Another objective of celebrating this day is to promote awareness about the inequalities that a girl child faces and educate people about girl’s education.
- Basically to value them and to respect them like everybody else and give a new perspective towards girl child and to decrease discrimination.
- The main focus is on changing society’s attitude towards girls, decrease female feticide and create awareness about the decreasing sex ratio.
Steps Taken by the Government:
Government of India has taken several steps over the years to improve the conditions of girls. Government has started several campaigns and programmes some of them are :
- Save the Girl Child
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
- Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
- CBSE Udaan Scheme
- Free or subsidized education for girl child,
- Reservation for women in colleges and universities
- National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education
BBBP
- The unabated decline in Child Sex Ratio (CSR) since 1961 (from 976 in 1961 to 927 in 2001 and 918 in 2011) was a matter of grave concern as it reflected the low status of women in our society and indicates her disempowerment over a life-cycle continuum. D
- Declining CSR is also indicative of pre-birth discrimination manifested through gender biased sex selection and post birth discrimination against girls (in terms of health care, nutrition and educational opportunities).
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme was launched in 2015 to address the issue of decline in CSR and related issues of empowerment of girls and women over a life cycle continuum. The objectives of the Scheme are as under: To prevent gender biased sex selective elimination, To ensure survival and protection of the girl child, To ensure education and participation of the girl child
Implementation Status and achievement:
- Increase in 19 points in Sex Ratio at Birth at National level from 918 (2014-15) to 937 (2020-21). (Source: HMIS data, MoHFW (April-March, 2014-15 & 2020-21)
- Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER): Enrollment of Girls in secondary education increased from 77.45% in 2014-15 to 81.32% in 2018-19. (Source: U-DISE, Mo Education (2018-19 data is provisional)
- Under Five Child Mortality (Female) has reduced from 45 in 2014 to 36 in 2018. (Source: SRS census india.gov.in)
- Percentage of 1st Trimester ANC Registration has shown improvement from 61% in 2014-15 to 73.9% in 2020-21. (Source: HMIS data, MoHFW (April-March, 2014-15 & 2020-21)
- Percentage of Institutional Deliveries has also shown an improvement from 87% in 2014-15 to 94.8% in 2020-21. (Source: HMIS data, MoHFW (April-March, 2014-15 & 2020-21)
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: Launched in 2015, in order to promote the welfare of girl child. It encourages parents to invest and build funds for the future studies and marriage expenses of the girl's children.
CBSE Udaan Scheme: UDAAN is a project launched by the CBSE to address the low enrolment of girl students in prestigious engineering institutions and the teaching gap between school education and engineering entrance examinations.
National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE): It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in 2008, which aims to promote enrollment of girl child in the age group of 14-18 at secondary stage, especially those who passed Class VIII and to encourage the secondary education of such girls.
The Reality Of Girl Child In India:
- India is the only large country in the world where more baby girls die than baby boys. The gender differential in child survival is currently 11 per cent, states UNICEF.
- Percentage of the female population aged 6 years and above who ever attended school increased from 68.8 per cent in 2015-16 to 71.8 per cent in 2019-21, as per NFHS-5.
- As per UNICEF’s report of 2021, India is home to the largest number of child brides in the world: 223 million child brides – a third of the global total. While it is illegal for girls under the age of 18 to marry in India, estimates suggest that at least 1.5 million girls under age 18 get married in India each year. Nearly 16 per cent of all adolescent girls aged 15–19 are currently married.
- The prevalence of anaemia seems to be higher among women (15-19 years) than men in the same age group, as per NFHS-5 data. Startling 59.1 per cent of women were reported to be anaemic as opposed to 31.1 per cent anaemic men.
- The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2021: India ranked 140 out of 156 countries assessed.
- As per the Global Gender Gap Report of 2021, China and India together account for about 90 per cent to 95 per cent of the estimated 1.2 million to 1.5 million missing female births annually worldwide due to gender-biased prenatal sex selective practices.
- Further, China, India and Pakistan register excess female mortality rates (below age 5) related to neglect and gender-biased postnatal sex selection practices.
Girl Child Quotes:
- "When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous." -Michelle Obama
- "Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice." -Bethany Hamilton
- "She makes the day brighter. She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes." - Kate Spade
- "'What if I fall?' 'Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?'" - Erin Hanson
- "Who runs the world? Girls." – Beyoncé
- "A girl should be two things: who and what she wants." -Coco Chanel
- "To save a girl is to save generations"- Gordon B. Hinckley
- "It is said that girls with dreams become women with vision. May we empower each other to carry out such vision."- Meghan Markle
Issues Related to Girl Child:
- Female Infanticide and Foeticide:
- India has one of the highest rates of female foeticide in the world.
- Female foeticide is due to strong son preference, the practice of dowry and the patrilineal necessity of heir.
- The census of 2011 has recorded the lowest ever sex ratio of 914 in the age group 0-6 years with 3 million missing girls; from 78.8 million in 2001 to 75.8 million in 2011.
- Child Marriage: Each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India, which makes it home to the largest number of child brides in the world - accounting for a third of the global total. Nearly 16% of adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.
- Education: A study by the International Centre for Research on Women has found that girls out of school are 3.4 times more likely to be married or have their marriage already fixed than girls who are still in school.
- Health and Mortality: Inequality in India means unequal opportunities for girls. Under-five mortality for girls in India remains 8.3% higher than for boys. Globally this is 14% higher for boys.
- Trafficking: Human trafficking is the third largest crime of the world. Nearly 60 percent of the victims of trafficking are below 18 years of age. Approximately 150,000 women and children are trafficked from South Asia every year and for most of them India acts as a country of origin and destination. NHRC estimated that almost half of the children trafficked within India are between the ages of 11-14.
Legal rights for girl child:
- Right Against Female Foeticide: government banned pre-natal sex determination (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act). Therefore, one cannot find out the sex of their unborn child till birth.
- Right To Education: The Right to Education Act, 2009, provides all children between the ages of six and 14 years the right to free and compulsory elementary education.
- Right To Be Raised In A Safe Environment: All children, including female children, have the right to be brought up in a safe and protected environment. The Juvenile Justice Act makes it illegal for parents and guardians of children to abuse, assault, neglect, or abandon a child.
- Right Against Abusive Family Members: Domestic Violence Act protects all females from any kind of physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse by family members. The protection extends to all family members with whom the female shares a house.
- Right To Stridhan: ‘Stridhan‘ is the property of a female, both movable and immovable, which is her own. Only she has rights over her ‘stridhan‘ and she can exclusively decide what she wants to do with it. This law applies only to Hindus.
- Right To Inherit Property: Since 2005, Hindu women have equal rights as men to inherit property. Therefore, a girl can inherit the same amount of property as her brother. Inheritance can be through a Will or through succession (if the deceased person does not leave a Will, the property will pass on to legal heirs according to the law).
- Right Against Child Marriage: the minimum age of marriage for girls is 18 years. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 provides a legal remedy and criminal provisions to prohibit child marriage and protect children.
- Right Against Sexual Harassment: Indian law protects all women from sexual harassment by men. By virtue of this law, every girl child in India is protected against sexual harassment.
- Right to Abortion: The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 permits a minor girl to have an abortion under special conditions
- Under Sections 372 and 373 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Court punishes those involved in buying and selling minor girls for prostitution.
- Section 363 A under the IPC prohibits any individual from kidnapping or maiming a minor to beg.
Why is the empowerment of the girl child important?
- Early education can be instrumental in shaping the society towards progress. When a girl is educated, she is empowered.
- She can make decisions for herself, raise the standard of living for her family and children, generate more employment options and reform the society as a whole.
- Every girl child must be treated equally with love and respect.
Way Forward:
- The answer to delaying child marriages lies in ensuring access to education since the practice is a social and economic issue.
- Skill & business training and sex education in schools, will also help.
- An awareness campaign is required on a massive scale on the increase in age of marriage, and to encourage social acceptance of this new legislation (Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill), which would be far more effective than coercive measures.
- The NFHS findings are also a reminder of the urgent need to close gaps in girls’ education and address the pathetic nutritional status of women and children.
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1792050
PRELIMS SPECIAL: NEWS IN BRIEF
State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities
- A new system of Star Rating of SEIAAs has been introduced for encouraging the efficiency, transparency and accountability in the functioning of SEIAAs.
- SEIAAs are a very important arm of the Environment Ministry for implementation of EIA Notification at the State level.
- They have been delegated powers to consider and grant environmental clearance (EC) for all proposals under Category B.
- Star Rating System is based on the provisions of EIA Notification 2006 and various guidelines issued by the Ministry from time to time.
- It aims to encourage the SEIAAs to increase their efficiency in decision making without diluting any regulatory safeguards.
Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP)
- The Government of India has been conferring the PMRBP award to children for their exceptional achievement in six categories namely,
- Innovation
- Social Service
- Scholastic
- Sports
- Art & Culture
- Bravery
Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar
- Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (in the Institutional category) and Professor Vinod Sharma (in the Individual category) have been selected for Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar, 2022.
- It has been instituted by GOI, to recognize and honour the invaluable contribution by individuals and organizations in India in the field of disaster management.
- The award is announced every year on 23rd January, on account of the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
- The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 51 lakh and a certificate in case of an institution and Rs. 5 lakh and a certificate in case of an individual.
The 50th Statehood Day
- Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya celebrated their 50th statehood day upholding the values of the indestructible Indian Union of destructible states.
- Tripura and Manipur were erstwhile princely states that merged with the Indian Union in October 1949.
- Tripura and Manipur became full-fledged states on the 21st of January, 1972. On the same day Meghalaya was accorded statehood which was a part of Assam.
- All the three states were accorded statehood under the provisions of the North Eastern Region (Reorganization) Act, 1971.
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