Of the total funds given to states under Government of India’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme, 78.91% have been used for advertising, the Committee on Empowerment of Women told Lok Sabha during the Winter session.
“The Committee finds that out of a total of ₹446.72 crore released during the period 2016-2019, a whopping 78.91% was spent only on media advocacy,” said the report. It added, “over the last six years, through focussed advocacy BBBP has been able to capture the attention of political leadership and national consciousness towards valuing the girl child. Now, it is time to focus on other verticals by making ample financial provisions to help achieve measurable outcomes related to education and health envisaged under the scheme.”
The Committee on Empowerment of Women is chaired by Heena Vijaykumar Gavit and the report is titled, Empowerment of Women through Education with Special Reference to Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, the flagship scheme of the union central, was launched in 2015 with an aim to focus on issues such as sex-selective abortion and declining child sex ratio in the country. The programme is currently operational in over 400 districts across India.
The committee also reported on the poor utilisation of the total budget. Since its inception in 2014-15 to 2019-20, the total allocated budget under the scheme was Rs 848 crore. This does not include the 2020-21, the year affected by Covid-19 pandemic. Till 2019-20, a total of Rs 622.48 crore was distributed to the states however, only 25.13 per cent of the total money was spent by the states.