National Girl Child Day 2024: ‘Educate a girl, change the world’

India celebrates National Girl Child Day every year on January 24 as a way to raise awareness of the injustices faced by girls and women in society. The Ministry of Women and Child Development established the day back in 2008. Since then, a yearly theme has been used to mark the day all across India.

Hyderabad:National Girl Child Day is celebrated every year on January 24 to increase awareness of the importance of empowering girls and addressing the problems they face in society. On January 24, Indira Gandhi took oath as the country's first woman Prime Minister and hence the government proclaimed it as National Girl Child Day.

It's a day to celebrate girls' rights and opportunities while honouring their resilience, strength, and potential. The day was established by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Every child, male or female, has the right to equal opportunity in terms of education, healthcare, nutrition, and other areas. The Centre hopes to promote and grant girls in the country equal opportunity through National Girl Child Day.

History -In 2008, National Girl Child Day was instituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The goal of National Girl Child Day is to raise awareness of the inequality that girls face in our society on a daily basis. In India, girls are forced to perform home chores from an early age and are frequently denied the chance to pursue an education. This day aims to challenge the limited view of girls. Additionally, the government wants to stress how important equality and dignity are to every girl kid today. Every year on National Girl Child Day, the government organises awareness efforts to spread this message.

Significance - The Ministry of Women and Child Development states that National Girl Child Day seeks to eliminate gender stereotypes, uplift the nation's girl children, increase knowledge of girls' rights, and emphasise the importance of education, health, and nutrition. The primary goals include raising awareness of the declining sex ratio, reducing female feticide, and altering society's perception of females.

Objectives- The goals of National Girl Child Day are to combat gender stereotypes that discriminate against girls and to advance gender equality. Giving women the information, resources, and opportunities they require to reach their full potential is the day's aim.

• By raising awareness of their rights, National Girl Child Day aims to protect girls from harmful practices including child marriage and gender-based abuse.
• It is observed as a national observance with the goals of raising public awareness and providing new possibilities for girls to succeed in society.
• To put a stop to all the injustices that young girls in Indian society have to face.
• To guarantee that, in Indian society, all girls are accorded the proper respect and worth.
• To guarantee that every girl child in the nation has her human rights fulfilled.
• Seeking to alter public perceptions of females and the decline in India's child sex ratio.
• To bring up and start a conversation with a couple about the significance and role of the girl child.
• To talk about issues pertaining to education, nutrition, health, and respect for girls.
• To encourage gender parity in Indian society.

Government Schemes for Ensuring the Welfare of the Girl Child -The federal and state governments have introduced a number of programs in an effort to close the gender gap and give daughters equal chances. A selection of them are listed below:

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
• Ladli Scheme of Haryana
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
• Ladli Laxmi Yojana of Madhya Pradesh
• Balika Samriddhi Yojana
• Karnataka Bhagyashree Scheme
• CBSE Udaan Scheme
• Mazi Kanya Bhagyashree Scheme from the Government of Maharashtra
• National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education
• West Bengal Kanyashree Prakalpa
• Dhanalakshmi Scheme

Indian laws that protect and empower the Girl Child:

Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 -Sex-selective abortions are the most terrible manifestation of gender inequity in India. A Pew Research Center analysis estimates that sex-selective abortions caused at least nine million female births to go "missing" between 2000 and 2019. The Indian Parliament passed the PCPNDT Act in an effort to curb female foeticide and halt the country's falling sex ratio. The Act forbids sex selection before or after conception and regulates prenatal diagnostic procedures in order to identify genetic abnormalities, metabolic disorders, chromosomal abnormalities, certain congenital malformations, or disorders linked to sex. It also prevents the improper use of these procedures for sex determination that results in female foeticide and for matters incidental or connected thereto.

Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005- India lacks a unified legal framework governing women's property ownership and inheritance rights, hence laws governing property ownership and sharing vary throughout religious groups. The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, which said that a daughter will have equal ownership in her father's property even after she gets married, recognised the equal property rights of sons and daughters.

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 -All children between the ages of six and fourteen have the legal right to free and compulsory education under this Act. A child cannot be held back in any class until they have finished their elementary education, according to the RTE Act. Despite being gender-neutral, this law promotes girls' education by providing them with greater access to education.

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 - In India, the legal age for girls to get married is eighteen. In addition to criminal laws that forbid child marriage and safeguard children's rights, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act offers a civil remedy. The Act punishes adults who perform, conduct, or direct child marriages in addition to offering relief to the kid getting married.

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 - Every child, regardless of gender, is entitled to grow up in a secure and safeguarded environment. The Juvenile Justice Act contains special measures for the care, protection, and rehabilitation of girls under the age of 18. Juvenile Welfare Boards provide specific protective homes and probation officer supervision in order to address the issue of neglected females. It is also prohibited by the Juvenile Justice Act for parents and guardians to mistreat, attack, neglect, or forsake a kid.

Every girl child born in India is given financial security -The goal of the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is to provide financial independence and stability to every girl child in India. The program encourages guardians and parents to fund their daughter's marriage and education from the time of her birth by transferring funds into her Sukanya Samriddhi account.

NCRB’s Annual Report 2022 -On December 3, 2023, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its annual report for the year 2022, titled 'Crime in India.' 83,350 children (20,380 male, 62,946 female, and 24 transgender) were reported missing in the previous year, according to the data. In addition, 80,561 kids in all (20,254 boys, 60,281 girls, and 26 transgender kids) were found or located.

According to the usual protocol for missing children, the police are required to file a First Information Report (FIR) under Indian Penal Code Section 363 (kidnapping) as soon as they get information about a missing minor, following a preliminary investigation and verification.

According to the figures for 2022, a total of 76,069 children, 62,099 of them female, were reported abducted throughout the year. Under the category of 'Unrecovered Victims of Kidnapping & Abduction,' there are up to 51,100 juveniles mentioned (including statistics from prior years), 40,219 of whom are young girls, or 78.7 per cent of the total.