Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) initiative, launched in 2015, in Panipat, Haryana, and said that it has played a role in addressing gender biases and creating an environment that ensures girls have access to education and opportunities.
“Today we mark 10 years of the #BetiBachaoBetiPadhao movement. Over the past decade, it has become a transformative, people-powered initiative and has drawn participation from people across all walks of life,” Modi said in a post on X.
The initiative was launched to address declining child sex ratios and related issues of women’s empowerment. Modi noted improvements in districts with historically low child sex ratios and talked about the role of awareness campaigns in promoting gender equality.
“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the people and various community service organisations, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has achieved milestones,” he said.
The Prime Minister also acknowledged the contributions of stakeholders and urged continued efforts to support daughters, ensure their education, and build a discrimination-free society. “Together, we can ensure that the coming years bring even greater progress and opportunity for India’s daughters,” he added.
According to the data shared by the Women and Child Development ministry, the initiative has brought improvement in the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) from 918 in 2014-15 to 930 in 2023-24, an increase in girls’ enrolment in secondary education from 75.51% in 2014-15 to 78% in 2023-24, and a rise in institutional deliveries from 61% in 2014-15 to over 97.3% by 2023-24. Additionally, first-trimester antenatal care registrations have increased from 61% to 80.5%.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday raised questions about the government’s commitment to women’s safety, criticising the disparity between Prime Minister Modi’s statements and actions on the issue. He pointed to the high rate of crimes against women, asking, “Why are 43 crimes against women recorded every hour in the country? Every day 22 crimes are registered against women and children, particularly from vulnerable Dalit-tribal communities. Modi ji has frequently spoken about women’s safety, but why is there a gap between his words and actions?”
Kharge also criticised the central government for halting the presentation of data on the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme, claiming that nearly 80% of the allocated funds for the initiative were spent on advertisements. “When this was exposed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, the funds for the scheme were reduced by 63% between 2018-19 and 2022-23. Later, when merged with the ‘Sambal’ scheme under ‘Mission Shakti,’ the Modi government stopped providing data on the scheme’s expenditure,” he said.
Union women and child development minister Annapurna Devi took to X and responded to Kharge. “Till 2014, despite the declining sex ratio, no structured effort had gone into addressing the survival and development of the girl child,” she said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “sensitivity and respect for women” led to the launch of the campaign.
Sharing data, the minister said, “The sex ratio at birth has increased from 918 in 2014 to 930 in 2024. Enrolment of girls in primary and secondary education is now at par with boys across streams. Maternal mortality has declined to 97 per lakh, and infant mortality to 28 per thousand. Institutional deliveries have nearly reached 100%.”
She also said that the government’s whole-of-society approach has been key in changing attitudes toward women and girls. “Generations of deep-rooted biases require continued nudging and reminders,” she said. “Our dream is that every girl’s birth is celebrated and cherished, and she grows to contribute equally to a developed India.”
India’s focus on women-led development, she said, is being recognised globally.
While some of the improvement could be the result of long-term development, data from Sample Registration System (SRS) and National Family Health Survey (NFHS) shows there has indeed been improvement in India’s gender-related indicators since the introduction of the scheme in 2015. According to SRS, sex ratio at birth improved from 898 female children born per 1,000 male children in 2014-16 to 907 in 2018-20 (latest data).
While the SRS is the most authoritative source for this number, other official surveys have shown a similar trend. NFHS — it averages the number over a five-year period leading to the survey — had a sex ratio at birth of 919 in the 2015-16 NFHS, which improved to 929 in the 2019-21 NFHS.
Similar improvements are seen in the gender gap for educational outcomes. Gross enrolment ratio (GER) — it measures the proportion of the age group corresponding to an educational level enrolled at that level — for higher education was 23.5% for women in 2015-16, 1.9 percentage points behind men, according to data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE).
In the latest available data from AISHE, women led men, although by a marginal 0.2 percentage points. Female students already led male students in GER or were marginally behind at secondary and higher secondary levels of education in 2015-16. This continued until 2021-22, but has seen female students fall somewhat behind after that.
(With inputs from Nishant Ranjan)