Nearly 79% Of Total Allocated Funds For 'Beti Bachao' Went Into Ads

Around 79 per cent of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) fund has been directed towards advertising. BBBP being one of the pet campaigns of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that aims towards the child sex ratio, has shown a significant imbalance in terms of following objectives of the scheme.

Understandably, advertising is a crucial part of this campaign, as it helps to spread the agenda. However, 79 per cent is a huge proportion for the investment in Advertisement, and also it is equally important to maintain a balance between both intent of the scheme and the media campaign.

This has scaled down the performance of the BBBP scheme, which is much needed for the empowerment of women. Dismay has been expressed by the Committee on Empowerment of Women regarding results found out.

About the scheme

The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme, was launched in 2015 to address the decline in the Child Sex Ratio and the related issue of women empowerment, is implemented by states with 100 per cent central assistance. It is a tri-ministerial scheme with the Women and Child Development Ministry As the Nodal Ministry. The other two Ministries involved are health and family welfare and Education.

Committee on Empowerment of Women

In a report by the Committee on Empowerment of women tabled in Lok sabha, It was stated that the Government spent about 80 per cent of Bet Bachao, bet Padhao funds on media campaigns and must now readdress this strategy and invest in measurable pay-offs in health and education sector for girls.

The Committee, chaired by Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, found out that profligacy was the consequence despite the vivid description of distribution for the utilization of funds.

Data also shows that the Government didn't release over 19% of the funds in the first place. Under this, it was also discovered that since the inception of BBBP in 2014-15 till 2019-20, the total Budgetary allocation under the scheme was Rs 848 crore, excluding the Covid-Stricken financial year of 2020-21. During this period, Rs 622 crore was released to the states, but only 25 per cent of funds which is about Rs 156 crore, has been spent by the union and state territories, as reported by The Hindu.

Implementation Of Guidelines

Under Implementation Guidelines of this scheme, which are available on the Ministry of Women and child development website. There are two vital components of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme. Firstly, Advocacy and media campaigns and Multi-sectoral Intervention in selected gender-critical districts that perform poorly concerning child sex Ration. However, it was found that Massive expenditure on Advertisement was done rather than any other component.

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