Parliamentary committee flagged poor utilisation of funds by states under the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” scheme

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22nd January 2015 at Panipat, Haryana. BBBP addresses the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of women empowerment over a life-cycle continuum. It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare, and Human Resource Development.

A parliamentary committee on women empowerment chaired by Maharashtra BJP Lok Sabha MP Heena Vijaykumar Gavit has flagged poor utilization of funds by states under the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” scheme. The committee tabled its report on ‘Empowerment of Women through Education with Special Reference to Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao Scheme’ in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

According to the report, from the start of the scheme in 2014-2015 till 2019-2020 its total budget allocation was 848 crore and an amount of 622.48 crores was released to the states during this period.

“However, to the committee’s dismay, only 25.13% of the funds, that is Rs 156.46 crore, has been spent by the states, reflecting not up to the mark performance of the scheme,” the panel’s report said.

The committee further observed that out of 446.72 crores that was released during the period of 2016-2019 a whopping 78.91% was spent only on media advocacy.

The report said, “though the committee understands the necessity to undertake a media campaign to spread the message of ”Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” among the people, they feel that it is equally important to balance the objectives of the scheme”.

The committee recommends that the government should reconsider spending on advertisements under the ”Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” scheme and should focus on planned expenditure allocation for sectoral interventions in education and health.