Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme was launched on January 22, 2015 as a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Women & Child Development with the Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It focuses on preventing gender-biased sex-selective practices, ensuring survival and protection of the girl child and promoting her education. BBBP is a centrally sponsored scheme with 100% funding by the Central Government in all the districts of the country under Sambal vertical of Mission Shakti. The government of West Bengal is not implementing BBBP.

The key criteria to assess the impact and evaluate the progress of scheme is the improvement in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) and Gross Enrolment Ratio of girl child at secondary level. The SRB has improved from 918 in 2014-15 to 930 in 2023-24 as per the provisional data of Health Management Information System (HMIS) of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW). Also, as per the data of Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +) of Department of School Education and Literacy, the National Gross Enrollment ratio of girls in school at secondary level has increased from 75.51 percent in 2014-15 to 79.4 percent in 2021-22 including rural areas.

Identifying the fact that multi sectoral interventions under BBBP require convergent action with various Ministries/Departments and to address the challenges faced in States and Union Territories with lower participation in activities including International Day for Girl Child activities, Ministry has issued an Operational Manual for BBBP which includes a detailed and well-rounded suggested Activity Calendar for the districts developed to ensure year-round engagement of girls, their families and communities.

Each calendar month has a theme assigned to it based on any important national or international date falling within that month. Most of the months have an identified convergent ministry/department, with which focused efforts are undertaken to achieve the objectives of BBBP in that month. For example, 11^th October is the International Day of Girl Child. It becomes a vital opportunity to advocate for girls’ rights and highlight the unique challenges they face. All the States/UTs organised a 10 Day special program from 2^nd October to 11^th October 2024 to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child.

Weekly focus areas within a particular month have also been suggested along with the relevant activities. The idea is to cover all aspects of holistic development of the girl child and their ecosystem.

Funds are being released on the basis of Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance which has prescribed guidelines for Single Nodal Agency (SNA) of the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). Further, based on the differential SRB status of districts as per the HMIS data for the year 2020-21, three brackets for release of funds under the BBBP have been prescribed:

• Districts with SRB less than or equal to 918 are allocated Rs. 40 lakh/year.
• Districts with SRB from 919 to 952 are allocated Rs. 30 lakh/year.
• Districts with SRB more than 952 are allocated Rs. 20 lakh/year.

The monitoring mechanism for BBBP is in line with and embedded within the larger framework of Mission Shakti at all levels of implementation. Once in a year during Programme Approval Board meetings with States/UTs, the Ministry of Women and Child Development monitors the progress of the overall activities under BBBP and reviews status of achievement of objectives. Apart from this, officials of the Ministry review the scheme through video conferencing from time to time with officials of States/UTs.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Smt. Savitri Thakur in the Rajya Sabha in reply to a question today.

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