Saving the girl child: Are we doing enough?

Save Girl Child …
The hand that rocks the cradle, the pro-creator, the mother of tomorrow; a woman shapes the destiny of civilization. Such is the tragic irony of fate, that a beautiful creation such as the girl child is today one of the gravest concerns facing humanity

Census 2001 data revealed a drastic fall in the sex ratio, especially the child sex ratio.  Whereas the overall sex ratio dropped from 934 to 920 per 1000 males. Socio-cultural factors and practices, such as the status of women, patriarchal structure of the society, preference for a son, fear of dowry, poverty, illiteracy etc are for some of the reasons for adverse sex ratio.

According to a special report on the girl child and labour by International Labour Organisation (ILO) more than 100 million girl children between the ages of 5 and 17 are engaged in child labour, out of which over 50% of them are in hazardous industries, and 20% of those are below twelve years old. ILO shows that 10% of girls are engaged in "household chores" for more than 24 hours in a week which is twice as much as boys

However, there are national child policies, laws and provisions in place that address the issues surrounding a girl child.
• The National Policy for Children, 1974
• The National Plan of Action for Children, 2005
• The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994
• The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1986
• The Juvenile Justice Act of 2000
• Indian Penal code
• Balika Samriddhi Yojana
• Kishori Shakti Yojana

The Government of India has also started a "save the girl child" campaign with the slogan "A happy girl is the future of our country". The UN has many initiatives that aim at the welfare of the girl child. The most significant one is the UN Girls' Education Initiative launched in April 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Gujarat government started ‘Save Girl Child’ campaign in 2005 as a result of which female-male ratio has improved significantly from 844:1000 in 2002 to 898:1000 in 2008, as per the annual central registration survey conducted by the Registrar General of the Government of India.

Madhya Pradesh also launched 'Beti Bachao Abhiyan' in Bhopal in 2011 with a view to ensure that the state's future population maintained a healthy balance in its numbers of boys and girls. They have made efforts to create awareness through use of social media.
https://www.facebook.com/BetiHaiToKalHai

But in spite of all the above efforts malpractices such as abuse and female foeticide have been in operation and have continued till date. Commitment and consistent effort is required on national front with more effective implementation of laws and policies along with severe punishment for those breaking the rules.