Raw Deal for India’s Daughters?

This week, the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP)’ campaign turned four. Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22, 2015, it was intended to address the alarming ratio of female births to male births in India. The government declared the programme a success, claiming marked improvements in the sex ratio in states like Haryana, which, in the 2011 Census, had recorded an abysmal low of 834 girls to every 1,000 boys born. The BBBP scheme has reached 640 districts, but figures revealed in Parliament on January 4 have prompted questions about the under use of funds and disproportionate expenditure on advertising. Has BBBP sufficiently improved girl enrolments in secondary school? Has it had an effect on the opportunities available to girls or on the cultural mindset that continues to deny girls those opportunities?