Beti Bachao to cover all dists, gets Rs 1K cr

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday expanded the scope of the three-year-old Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme. From covering 161 districts, it will now cover all the 640 districts across the country. As part of the expansion, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a budget outlay of Rs 1,132.5 crore from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

The CCEA also gave its approval for the expansion of a gamut of sub-schemes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) under the umbrella scheme 'Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women' for a period of 2017-18 to 2019-20. It approved a financial outlay of Rs 3,636.85 crore, of which Centre's share is Rs 3,084.96 crore approximately.

Apart from that, the Cabinet also approved a new scheme, Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra (PMMSK), under which over 3 lakh student volunteers will be engaged in community engagements in over 115 districts. The volunteers will provide technical support to the state governments on issues related to women at the district, block, and national level.

Under the new PMMSK scheme, advocacy and media campaign will be carried out in 640 districts and focused multi-sectoral action will be taken in selected 405 districts. "All low CSR districts shall be taken up in the first year itself under BBBP. To provide support to working women, 190 more Working Women Hostels will be set up to accommodate approximately 19,000 working women. Additional Swadhar Grehs have been approved to provide relief and rehabilitation of approximately 26,000 beneficiaries," the government release stated.

One Stop Centres (OSCs) will also be established in 150 additional districts in the next three years, and the Mahila Police Volunteers (MPVs) will be expanded to 65 districts covering all states and Union territories.

A government release said that the expansion of the Beti Bachao scheme will correct the declining child sex ratio, adding that in the three years of the scheme it had produced results.

It stated that as per health ministry data, of the 161 districts where BBBP is being implemented, "an improving trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) is visible in 104 districts, 119 districts have reported progress in first trimester registration against the reported Anti Natal Care registrations and 146 districts have reported improvement in institutional deliveries," the release stated.