Beti bachao? In 132 Uttarakhand villages, no girl born in 3 months, officials call emergency meet

At a time when athletes such as Hima Das are conquering world, looks like India is still not happy with its daughters or their very existence. While the Narendra Modi government is popularising its flagship programme called ‘Beti bachao, Beti padahao’, over 100 villages in Uttarakhand have shunned their unborn daughters. An ANI report sia dtaht a survey of 132 villages in Uttrakhand’s Uttarkashi district has exposed a disturbing trend. According to the report, not a single girl child was born in these 132 villages in last three months. After the report, the local administration has sprung into action and called an emergency meet.

"We have identified areas where the number of girl childbirth is zero or in single-digit numbers. We are monitoring these areas to find out what is affecting the ratio. A detailed survey and study will be conducted to identify the reason behind it," District Magistrate Dr Ashish Chauhan was quoted as saying.

Talking about the probale cause of this disturbing trend, a social worker named Kalpana Thakur said,"No girl child was born for three months in these villages. It cannot be just a coincidence. This clearly indicates female foeticide is taking place in the district. The government and the administration are not doing anything."

On January 22, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the ‘Beti Bachao’ programme in Haryana’s Panipat.  In January this year, Virendra Kumar, the minister of state in the ministry of women and child development, in a reply in Lok Sabha had said that till 31 December 2018, the Modi government had allocated funds amounting to Rs 648 crore for the scheme since it was launched.

Meanwhile, the Census, 2011 has shown significant declining trend in Child Sex Ratio (CSR), with 918 girls per 1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years. CSR has declined from 976 in 1961 to 918 in 2011. Out of 640 districts, CSR has declined in 429 districts (2/3rd of the country). 244 districts were  below the national average of 918.