International Girl Child Day

International Girl Child Day

International Girl Child Day is observed annually on October 11th.

Why International Girl Child Day is celebrated on Oct 11?

• For the first time in history, an action plan to improve the rights of girls was suggested in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
• The International Day of the Girl Child was established by Resolution 66/170 of the United Nations General Assembly in 2011.
• "Our time is now—our rights, our future" is the theme for 2022.

Significance:

• The day is commemorated to recognize the rights of girls and the particular difficulties they face globally.
• The need to address the issues girls confront, support girls' empowerment, and ensure that their human rights are upheld are all highlighted by the International Day of the Girl Child.
• Additionally, all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals are based on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
• The fifth of the 17 SDGs included in the Sustainable Development Agenda is the achievement of gender equality.
• Only through safeguarding the rights of women and girls across all goals can justice, inclusion, economic progress, and a sustainable environment be attained.

What is the situation with Indian girls?

• According to the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) most current report, "Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India Report 2021,".
• Crime against children increased after dropping in 2020 as a result of Covid-related restrictions, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
• 1.49 lakh of these cases were reported in 2021, an increase from 1.48 lakh in 2019.
• The NCRB's data, which is notably bleak for India's eastern states:
• Sikkim, Kerala, Meghalaya, Haryana, and Mizoram are the states with the highest rates of sexual offences against minors.
• Along with Maharashtra, MP, and UP, West Bengal and Odisha are among the top five states that account for 47.1% of all crimes against children nationwide.
• In West Bengal alone, there were 9,523 cases of crimes committed against minors in 2021.

Girl Child Issues:

Female Infanticide and Foeticide

• One of the highest rates of female foeticide in the world is found in India.
• In the age range 0–6 years, the Census of 2011 revealed the lowest sex ratio ever of 914, with 3 million missing girls, down from 78.8 million in 2001 to 75.8 million in 2011.

Child Marriage:

• At least 1.5 million females under the age of 18 get married in India every year. About 16% of teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are now married.
• Despite a modest decrease, child marriage has decreased from 27% in 2015–16 to 23% in 2019–20, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5.

Lack of Education:

• Girls are pushed to work more at home and are more likely to leave school early due to these factors.
• According to research by the International Centre for Research on Women, girls who have dropped out of school are 3.4 times more likely than those who are still enrolled to be married or to have a stable marriage.

Malnutrition

• Due to the patriarchal mindset often girl child lack proper nutritious food. Even early marriage and multiple pregnancies lead to a malnourished and anemic girl.

Related Initiatives:

Betti Padhao, Betti Bachao

• launched in 2015 with a focus on sex discrimination in abortion and the dropping child sex ratio, which was 918 girls for every 1,000 males in 2011.

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana

• The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana was established in 2015 to advance the wellbeing of young girls. It encourages parents to save money and invest in order to cover the costs of the girl's children's future education and marriage.

Udaan Scheme by CBSE:

• The CBSE launched the UDAAN project in order to address the low enrollment of female students in esteemed engineering colleges and the knowledge gap between classroom instruction and engineering entrance exams.

National Girls Secondary Education Incentives Program (NSIGSE):

• It is a centrally sponsored programme that was started in 2008 with the goal of encouraging females in the 14–18 age range to enrol in secondary school, especially those who have completed Class VIII, and to support their secondary education.

Scheme for Adolescent Girls:

• The government is also putting this program into action. Its goal is to help, educate, and empower adolescent girls (AGs) so they can become independent, informed citizens.

Way Forward

• Strengthening the Child Protection System: Immediate action is required to improve the nation's child protection system and to increase the proactivity of the police, judicial, and legal institutions.
• Mechanisms for localized child protection: Increasing community-based child protection systems, including village-level child protection committees, can be crucial because crimes involving children have a low conviction rate and a high pendency rate.
• Raising Social Awareness: It is important to address patriarchal social attitudes and prejudices by integrating gender concerns into school curricula.

Read Also: Speech On Importance Of Children's Day