NEW DELHI — The dwindling ratio of women versus men has been a matter of grave concern to every Indian government and it is no exception to the present government. But the Indian government rolled out a slew of measures to educate girls and for overall upliftment of women in the society, which is now yielding results.

The child sex ratio (0 to 6 years) in 1961 was 976 girls per 1,000 boys and in 2011 it fell to 918. The recent data of the National Family Health Survey highlighted the improving sex ratio tilting in favor of women. In the last survey, the sex ratio was 991 women per 1,000 men.

The villages fare better than the cities in the sex ratio. In cities, where there are 985 women per 1,000 men. In villages, this number is 1,037 against 1,000. Not only this, the sex ratio at birth, which was 919 in 2015-16 has reached 929 girls.

While sharing his views on this accomplishment during a women’s empowerment program organized on Dec. 21 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Daughters should not be killed in the womb, they should be born for which we started Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign to raise the consciousness of the society.

“Today the result is that the number of daughters has increased a lot in many states of the country. We have worked continuously to ensure that daughters can study properly and they do not have to drop out of school in the middle.

Under the Sukanya Samridhi Yojana, accounts of about 2.5 crore girls have been opened. The interest rate has also been kept high on this money to fulfill their dreams when they grow up.”

The prime minister announced the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme (SSAS) in January 2015 while launching the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” scheme at Panipat, Haryana, in the backdrop of increasing incidence of feticide and the declining level of child sex ratio.

The objective of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme is to prevent female feticide, to provide quality education to girls, to provide them security while the SSAS aims at reducing the expenditure on the education and marriage of daughters.

The government emphasized on strict implementation of PC and PNDT Act in the first phase. Extensive nationwide awareness, and publicity campaign were also carried out to discourage female feticide. Under it, several campaigns were launched for sensitization, awareness, and community mobilization at the grassroots level.

It was started as a pilot project under the first phase in 100 districts with a low child sex ratio. After this, it was expanded to 61 additional districts. After its successful implementation in 161 districts, it was extended to another 244 districts.

Women’s toilets have been built in more than 95 percent of the schools in the country. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of girls dropping out midway due to toilets.

Similarly, to empower women maternity leave has been extended to six months so that the mothers can continue their work without worrying about the initial care of their child after delivery.

Maternal health during pregnancy has been a major cause of concern in poor families. Therefore, special attention has been paid to the vaccination of pregnant women, delivery in hospitals, and nutrition during pregnancy.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Rs.5,000 is deposited in the bank account of women during pregnancy, so that they can take care of proper diet. So far, about Rs.10 thousand crores have been given to more than 2 crore pregnant women. — Agencies