National Girl Child Day: How Safe Are Girls?

Girls are the assets of society and National Girl Child Day is observed every year on January 24 to raise awareness about the rights of the girl child and help people understand the importance of giving adequate education, nutrition and support to girl children.

First celebrated in 2008, National Girl Child Day also aims to create more awareness about issues such as female infanticide and gender discrimination.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that immense priority has been accorded to empower the girl child in every development initiative undertaken by his government, and asserted that the focus is on ensuring dignity as well as opportunities to her.

The government has also implemented various schemes to empower women but is these schemes valuable if the girls don’t get any dignity in the society. The cases of rape, women trafficking are increasing day by day but the government is not concern of the fact.

It was only after a incident take place that the police and government showed interest to take the matters of women trafficking or rape seriously but after a few days, both the government and administration forget about the cases.

We will only be capable of celebrating ‘Girl Child Day’ the day when there will not be a single case of women trafficking or rape in the country.

It is only on the particular day that people from politicians to social worker to NGOs wished girls on the girl child day by only typing a message in the social media but who will take the responsibility to make the society aware that abuse against girls should be completely diminished from the society.

India celebrates the National Girl Child Day, an initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, every year on January 24 “National Girl Child Day is an occasion to reiterate our commitment and further strengthen ongoing efforts to empower the girl child,” Prime Minister Modi said. “It is also a day to celebrate the exemplary accomplishments of the girl child in different fields,” he said in a tweet.

“In every development initiative undertaken by our Government, we accord immense priority to empowering the girl child and strengthening our Nari Shakti,” Modi said.

Our focus is on ensuring dignity as well as opportunities to the girl child, he said in another tweet.

On this day, let’s pledge to empower the girl child and ensure that no one faces inequality, and encourage each one of them to achieve greater heights to help them achieve their dreams.

The Centre has initiated several initiatives over the years to encourage more opportunities for girls including Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Kishori Shakti Yojana. The government also provides subsidised education for girls and many other schemes to reduce inequalities faced by them.

The women and child development ministry listed a number of steps taken by the government in this regard, like:

• Save the Girl Child,

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao,

• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana

• CBSE Udaan Scheme

• Free or subsidized education for girl child,

• Reservation for women in colleges and universities

The day is marked by various events all across the country, though the ministry has decided to organise all the programmes in virtual mode this year in view of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.