The National Girl Child Day, a day that is dedicated especially for the Girl Child in India, was initiated in the year 2008 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development as a national girl’s development mission. Each year, on the 24th of January, it is celebrated as a national observance day to create awareness among all the people about the importance of girl’s overall development and well-being and to offer new opportunities to the girl child in the society.
This day is observed so that there is increased awareness among people about all the inequalities faced by the girl child in the society including inequality in education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, protection, honour killing, child marriage to name a few.
As per the 2011 census, in India, it was found that the female literacy rate is 65.46 % against the male which is 82.14% while the child sex ratio is 919 against 1000 males and one-third of the girls are malnourished. As of Nagaland, the female literacy rate is 76.11% against that of male which is 82.75% and the Child Sex Ratio is at 931 per 1000 male. Many women in their reproductive age group are found to be anaemic and suffering from various other diseases just because of the gender discrimination in the society, limited access to the health services and pre sex selection by the families.
The government of India in its capacity has introduced various steps and measures to strengthen the status of the girl child in the society. Legislations like the Prohibition of Child Marriage Restraint Act 2006, Domestic Violence Act 2009, Pre- Conception & Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act 1994, POCSO Act 2012, Right to Education Act 2009, etc were introduced to help protect the girls from all these social evils. Other schemes and programs such as Integrated Child Protection scheme (ICPS), as Integrated Child Development scheme (ICDS), Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), SABLA, Dhanalaksmi scheme, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Childline, etc are all introduced to ensure a better life and safety for her.
Every girl should get equal importance as their counterparts and is provided equal rights and opportunities that they deserve from the very beginning. So, lets us all unite together to fight against the social stigma and discrimination about girl child and step forward to protect her and make a better place for her so that she may live to her full potential and grow up to be an asset for our country. We wish all the girls out there a very Happy Girl Child Day.
(State Resource Centre for Women, Project Management Unit (PMU) Beti Bachao Beti Padhao)
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