Improving sex ratio at birth visible in 104 districts: Government

An improving trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) is indictated in 104 districts under the "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" scheme, as per reports of the Health Management Information System (HMIS), Minister of State for Women and Child Development Virendra Kumar said on Friday.

"119 districts have reported progress in first trimester registration against the reported Ante-Natal Care registrations and 146 districts have reported improvement in institutional deliveries," Kumar said in reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha.

Out of 640 districts, 405 districts are covered through multi-sectoral intervention, Media & Advocacy and 235 districts are covered through alert Media & Advocacy outreach.

For the financial year 2018-19, Rs 280 crore has been allocated for advertising of the scheme. While the funds released to all the states and districts is Rs 70.63 crore, funds for media activities stand at Rs 155.71 crore.

The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme (BBBP) was launched on January 22, 2015 to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of women empowerment and to change mindsets to value girl child. It is a triministerial effort of the ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.

The key elements of the scheme include nation-wide awareness and advocacy campaign and multi-sectoral action. Multi-sectoral action includes effective enforcement of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, Pre-Natal/ Post-Natal care of mother and improve enrolment of girls in schools, among others.

The Minister also informed that calls received by the child helpline number during the last four years have increased more than three-fold.

"CHILDLINE (1098) had answered 38,22,081 calls in the year 2013-14 which increased to 1,15,59,750 calls in the year 2017-18," Kumar stated.

According to him, out of all the calls, 7,09,202 calls required direct intervention in the form of medical help, shelter, restoration, protection from abuse, sponsorship and others.

--IANS

som/nir