Panchayats step forward to make a difference

Higher number of live birth of girls as against those of boys was recorded in 30 gram panchayats across six districts of Rajasthan in the period between April 2014 - March 2015.
As a part of the initiative by Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) in collaboration with the JRD Tata Trust, 1620 girls were born against 1460 boys in six districts of two divisions, Jaipur and Jodhpur.
The three-year project launched in 2012 to crystallize a coordinated response to halt the declining child sex ratio (CSR) was led by the Panchayats.
Explaining the project, Rakhee Badhwar, State Program Manager of CFAR pointed out that there had been a steep 21 point decline in the CSR from 909 in 2001 to 888 in 2011 and that rural Rajasthan had significantly contributed to the drastic fall, which is being witnessed across the six districts.

"Census 2011 had proved to be a "strong wake-up call", one that had made Panchayat leaders realize that they could no longer be in denial. Many among them came forward and expressed their keenness to demonstrate their readiness to halt the decline.
"It resulted in CFAR working in partnership with 180 gram panchayats spread over 54 Panchayat Samiti, to reach out to over 21,000 people and create a strong team of volunteers and change agents drawn from representatives of panchayats, frontline workers and NGO," she said.
Other highlights of the projects were training 2721 grassroots workers on many facets of the issue and also organising 547 consciousness raising events and 184 'balika janmotsavs' or celebrations to mark the birth of baby girls.