1
SUB GROUP REPORT
Girl Child in the Eleventh Five Year
Plan (2007-2012)
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Government of India
Shastri Bhawan
New Delhi Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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CONTENTS
Page
Chapter One: Background………………………………………………………………61
Chapter Two: Mid Term Appraisal of the Tenth Plan………………………………...63
Chapter Three: Current Status of the Girl Child……………………………………….64
Chapter Four: Eleventh Plan- The Path Ahead…………………………………………67
Chapter Five: Recommendations of the Sub Group…….………………………………68
ANNEXURE:
A. Conditional Cash Transfer: A Concept Note……………………………………………85
B. Proposed Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls………………………………92
C. Members of the Sub-Group on Girl Child……………………………………………….95 Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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Chapter One
Background
The Planning Commission has constituted a Working Group on “Development of Children”
for the Eleventh Five Year Plan under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, Ministry of Women
and Child Development with the basic objective to carry out a review of the existing
approach and strategies along with the programmes for protection, welfare and development
of children and make suggestions/ recommendations for the Eleventh Five Year Plan. The
Working Group set up four Sub-Groups of which one of the Sub-Group is on “Girl Child”.
The list of members of this sub-Group may be seen at Annexure-‘C’. This Sub-Group was
assigned the task of undertaking an in-depth analysis of the issues/problems confronting the
girl child and recommending future plan of action for the Eleventh Plan. The Sub-Group met
twice and experts were also co-opted to attend these meetings. The Sub-Group discussed at
length the needs of the girl child and also considerable e-discussions and brain-storming
were held. Based on these deliberations this Report of the Thematic Sub-Group on Girl Child
has been prepared which has sections focusing on the key issues and
suggestions/recommendations.
INTRODUCTION
The Constitution of India offers all citizens, including children, certain basic Fundamental
Rights – the right to life and liberty, the right to equality, right to freedom of speech and
expression, right against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, right to conserve culture
and the right to constitutional remedies for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights. Further,
the Directive Principles of State Policy directs the State to ensure that all children are
provided with services and opportunities to grow and develop in a safe and secure
environment.
To realize the letter and spirit of the Constitution, the State has formulated a number of
legislations such as the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, Immoral Traffic Prevention Act,
1956, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulations Act) and the Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children) Act, 2000 In addition, a number of policies and plans (National
Policy for Children 1974, National Policy on Education, National Policy on Child Labour,
National Charter for Children 2004 and National Plan of Action for Children, 2005) have
been formulated. The Government is also implementing a large number of programmes and
schemes for the benefit of children.
India is a signatory to a number of International Instruments such as UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, with its two Optional Protocols, and Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), thereby affirming its commitment to
the growth and development of women and children. It also accepted without reservation the
international commitments of the ‘World fit for Children’ adopted by the UN General
Assembly Special Session on Children in 2002, and the Beijing Platform for Action for the
advancement of women and girls adopted by the World Conference on Women in 1995.
However, inadequate impact of programming investment and achievement in overall
development of the child, and the adverse influence of negative social attitudes towards
women and girls have left girl children in India disadvantaged. Their survival, development,
security and well-being as citizens of India, and their participation as members of society is
thus officially recognized as a matter of serious national concern. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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Girl child’s status is dramatically profiled in female to male sex ratios of younger age groups
in the population. The 1991 Census of India highlighted a serious and worsening decline in
the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group, reflecting the rising prevention of female births, and the
incidence of female infanticide and deliberate neglect of girl children’s health, nutrition and
safety. The 2001 Census revealed a further decline in the 0-6 age group and an even lower
female-male ratio in the 15 to 19 age group.
The Tenth Plan (2002-07) reiterated the objectives of the Ninth Plan and re-affirmed the
lifecycle approach for betterment of the Girl Child. Further, the Tenth Plan also set certain
monitorable goals as follows: -
• All children in school by 2003; all children to complete five years of schooling by 2007.
• Reduction in gender gaps in literacy and wage rates by at least 50 percent by 2007.
• Reduction of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to 45 per 1000 live births by 2007 and 28 by
2012.
• Reduction of Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to 2 per 1000 live births by 2007 and to 1
per 1000 live births by 2012.
Other objectives included:
• Arresting the decline in the child sex ratio.
• Increasing the representation of women in premier services and in Parliament.
• Universalisation of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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Chapter Two
Mid Term Appraisal of the Tenth Plan
The mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan expressed concern with regard to adverse child sex
ratio, the rising incidence of female foeticide and infanticide, persistently high infant child
and maternal mortality rates, wide gender gaps in child health and education as well as low
female literacy and escalating violence against women etc. The views expressed in the MidTerm Appraisal are given below: -
• The Girl child’s dwindling numbers on account of high incidence of female foeticide is
very disturbing. Sex determination before birth is widely prevalent, in spite of the Pre-Natal
Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, 1994. The Ministry of Health, in consultation with the
States, must stringently implement the PNDT Act to stop any further decline in the child
sex ratio.
• Child Trafficking is not merely confined to trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation,
but can be for organ transplants, begging, entertainment (camel jockeying and circus), child
labour and domestic work, drug peddling, and participation in armed conflicts, to name a
few. For the vast multitude of homeless and street children, a more comprehensive policy
on adoption and foster care of children must be formulated, which should be in consonance
with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
• There is no data indicating the extent to which children are affected by HIV/AIDS. Social
exclusion follows once HIV is detected. The problem of discrimination against HIV
positive children while accessing public services like hospitals, schools, playgrounds, and
other facilities needs to be addressed, perhaps with some special legislation.
• The Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 (as amended in 1949 and 1978) needs to be
reviewed and amended, but this must be preceded by an investigation of contemporary
trends. The problem is not so much a continuation of traditional cultural practices, but the
emergence of new complex causes.
• Growing insecurity of girls and increasing violence against them, adolescent pregnancy
resulting from sexual ignorance and neglect, increasing drop-outs from post-primary
schooling due to various reasons, and deep neglect of the physical and cultural development
of girls, with no provisions for games/sports, healthy entertainment and reading facilities.
• For adolescent girls, there is need for hostels with subsidized boarding and lodging
facilities. This helps retain them in school and discourage early marriage because parents
often push young girls into marriage because of lack of facilities for education.
• Protecting Girl-child Domestic Labourers -In pursuance of its mandate to suggest systemic
changes, the National Commission for Women (NCW) should, among other things, suggest
institutional mechanisms to prevent violence against women and girl children in several
fields, for example, in girl child domestic wage labour. Classifying domestic wage labour
by girl children as a hazardous occupation may help avoid their exposure to the risks of
mental and physical harassment, and sexual exploitation. Such a proposal may be put
before the Technical Advisory Committee under the Child Labour Act that considers
proposals to categorize any occupation as hazardous.
The concerns expressed in the Mid-Term Appraisal are reflected in the current status of the Girl
Child. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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Chapter Three
Current status of the Girl child
The important Human Development Indicators (HDI) which reflect the current status of the
girl child are given in the table below:
Table – 1: Important HDI of Girl Child
Indicator Males Females Persons
Population(0-6)
1
81,911,041 75,952,104 157,863,145
Sex Ratio (0-6)
2
- - 927/1000
IMR (April 2006)
3
- - 58
MMR
4
- 407 -
Child Mortality Rate (0-4)
5
(2000) 18.6% 20.6% 19.5%
Anemia (15-19)
6
- 56% -
Literacy Rate 75.26 53.67 64.84
Gross Drop Out Rate
7
Class I-5 35.85 33.72 34.89
Class I-VIII 52.28 53.45 52.79
Class I-X 60.72 64.97 62.58
A perusal of the various indicators reflects the dismal situation of the girl child. The sharp
decline in female sex ratios over the years suggests that female foeticide and infanticide
might be primarily responsible for this phenomenon followed by general neglect of the girl
child The sex ratio has been dwindling even in States like Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh
and Gujarat which are supposed to be economically prosperous. Female infanticide has been
reported from parts of Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The
magnitude of girl child mortality is reflected from the fact that every year, about 12 million
girls are born in India; a third of these girls die in the first year of their life; three million, or
25 per cent, do not survive to see their fifteenth birthday. The child mortality rate between 0-
4 years for girl child is 20.6%, two percent more than that of boys (18.6%).
The root cause of malnutrition amongst girls is not just poverty and lack of nutritious food,
but also like lack of value attached to girls. Discriminatory feeding practices reveal:
• Girl’s nutritional intake is inferior in quality and quantity;
• Boys have access to more nutritious food;
• Boys are given first priority with the available food within the family;
• Female infants are breastfed less frequently, for shorter duration and over a shorter period
than boys.
Gender discrimination results in malnutrition of girls on a large scale; 56 percent of girls (15-
19 years) continue to suffer from anemia; 45 per cent of the girls suffer from stunted growth
as opposed to 20 per cent of boys. Due to dietary deficiencies, adolescent girls do not achieve
their potential weight and height. Also, 35 per cent of rural adolescent girls have a weight
below 38 kg and a height below 145 cm. Anemia is often responsible for miscarriages, still
1
Census 2001
2
Ibid.
3
SRS Bulletin, April 2006
4
SRS, RGI 1998
5
Website—Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
6
NFHS-2
7
IbidWorking Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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births, premature births, low birth-weight babies and maternal mortality during childbirth.
Undernourished girls who grow into undernourished mothers continue a vicious
intergenerational cycle of under-nutrition and wastage of women.
The enrollment figures in schools, for girls are comparatively lower than those for that of
boys indicating that many girls do not get enrolled in schools. Thirty four percent of girls
drop out before they complete Class 5. One of the major reasons why so many girls do not
attend school is because of their workload, both within and outside the household. Daughters
are often kept at home to help the family because the social and economic value of educating
girls is not recognized. It is a little known fact that among the world's exploited child
workers, girls outnumber boys. Without access to education, girls are denied the knowledge
and skills needed to advance their status.
Child marriages still continue despite the fact that the Child Marriage Restraint Act was
enacted as far way back as in 1929. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh have high incidence of child marriages. The table below reflects the percentage
of child marriages in few select States:
Table – 2
Percent Married Females to Total Females in the Age Married (1991)
States 10-14 years 15-19 years
India 4.5% 35.3%
Andhra Pradesh 3.5% 45.5%
Bihar 7.2% 55.3%
Madhya Pradesh 8.5% 51.4%
Rajasthan 13.2% 55.9%
Uttar Pradesh 7.1% 46.7%
Source: Registrar General of India
According to NFHS Report (1998-99), 34 percent women in the age group 15-19 are already
married. These proportions are higher in rural areas. Another significant fact is that
performance of child marriages is not uniform across all States of India. There are stark
variations between States. About half of the women aged 25-49 married before the age of
fifteen in Madhya Pradesh (52.6%), Bihar (51.0%), Uttar Pradesh (49.7%), Andhra Pradesh
(48.9%), and Rajasthan (47.8 %). And about four-fifth of the women of these States—
Madhya Pradesh (78.5%), Bihar (83.9%), Uttar Pradesh (79.6%), Andhra Pradesh (79.8%)
and Rajasthan (81.5%) were married before reaching the legal minimum age of eighteen
years.
The Girl child is also highly susceptible to abuse, violence and exploitation both inside and
outside her home. It is a known fact that crimes against girl child have been increasing over
the years but very few cases get reported. Rape, trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour,
beggary are some the forms of violence perpetuated on the girl child.
Adolescent girls (11-18) deserve special care and attention. Adolescence has traditionally
been considered the most difficult period in an individual’s development cycle. The changes
that adolescents undergo (physical, psychological, physiological, hormonal, cognitive and
sexual) are not only stressful but confusing since these changes occur simultaneously and
rapidly in the absence of any kind of support and expert guidance to cope with the transition.
The situation is aggravated with uncertainties of social expectations and constraints, career, Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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marriage partner, sex life and the ‘self’ itself. The confusion is made worse with societal
perceptions and definitions of this period as requiring controls and restrictions.
Thus for a girl child, life
is a constant fight for
survival, growth and
development from the
time she is conceived till
she attains 18 years. The
table given below
depicts the life chart of a
girl child and highlights
the many life threatening
problems she faces.
Table 3
Years Problems faced
Before Birth to 1
year
• Foeticide and Infanticide
• Infant mortality
• Discrimination in breast feeding and infant food
• Neglect of health (immunization)
1 to 11 years (this
includes specific
problems faced by
age groups 1-5
years and 6-11
years)
• Discrimination in access to food and health care
• Malnutrition and anemia
• Health problems like Polio and diarrhea
• Iodine and Vitamin A and Micro nutrient deficiency
• Low school enrolment and School drop outs
• Vulnerable to trafficking, child labour, child marriage
• Abuse, exploitation and violence
• Domestic chores
• Looking after siblings
• Restriction on mobility and play
• Discrimination in overall treatment and parental care
11 to 18 years
(Adolescents)
• Poor health
• Low literacy level
• Restriction on mobility and play
• Frequent illness due to Malnutrition, Aneamia and micro-nutrient deficiency
• Child Marriage
• Early Child bearing morbidity and mortality
• Poor access/ Denial to information and services
• Early and frequent pregnancy coupled with abortions
• Marital and domestic violence
• Dowry Harassment, desertion, polygamy, divorce
• Child labour, trafficking.
• STDs and HIV/AIDs
• Heavy domestic work including commuting long distances to collect fire
wood/ drinking water
• Unpaid and unrecognized work, and drudgery
• No voice either in Home or society
Importance of Working with Adolescents:
• Adolescents constitute a large section of the population : 19% globally
and 21.4% in India. The Young people(10-24) are soon going to be 30%
of the world population.
• This is one of the most misunderstood groups, treated neither as adults
nor as children
• It is a period of heightened energy, which if channelised and guided
properly, can result in highly constructive outcome.
• Given opportunity and encouraged to have confidence, adolescents can
improve and accelerate the process of positive social change. The process
of social change is much faster if one works with adolescents themselves
and their peers, their ideas are shared. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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Chapter Four
Eleventh Plan - The Path Ahead
Objectives
The objective for the 11
th
Plan should be to holistically empower the girl child in all aspects
so that she can become an equal partner with boys on the road to development and progress.
This requires addressing the various constraints /persisting problems facing the girl child.
Towards this end, the strategy and action laid out in the National Plan of Action for Children,
2005 will be given priority and attention with focus on her survival, protection and well-
being. Special importance will be accorded to ensuring all girl children the right to life and
liberty, and to upholding their dignity and security in family and society, with utmost
attention to their right to equality and social justice.
Special measures are required for this purpose to protect the girl child’s prospects of survival
and security, from conception to birth, in her early years, and throughout the period of her
childhood. Both child development and primary health services must be on alert to address
these challenges, and the community must be motivated to play a protective role. The focus
should be on four Es- equality, education, enabling environment and empowerment so that
she is provided with equal opportunity for survival and development, protected against
neglect and abuse, and offered the enabling means to develop to their full potential, and lead
a productive and healthy life.
The life-cycle approach of the girl child which hitherto had the ultimate objective of marriage
and motherhood should be now revised to a” Capability Approach”—as propagated by
Amartya Sen where the girl child’s contributions both in economic and social terms are given
due recognition as equal in value and potential to those of boys. For this purpose, the
following concerns needs to be addressed:
I. All programming provisions of the National Plan of Action for Children 2005,
covering survival, protection, development and participation, apply to the girl child.
Where the fact of being a girl impedes a child from enjoying all entitlements covered
by the NPA, the State must take special measures to ensure girl children’s access to
these services and benefits.
II. All measures to serve and benefit girl children must be designed to address the needs
of each age among children, and each stage of childhood. Interventions, and their
delivery mechanisms must effectively reach the girl child on the basis of her age and
specific setting.
III. While the indicator of child impact must be established as a core indicator of 11
th
Plan
interventions across all sectors of development, the status and condition of the girl
child should be used to gauge the effectiveness of development measures in reaching
out to all children.
IV. Key issues to be tracked through monitoring and social/community audit include:
• Survival of the girl child and her right to be born —prevention of female feticide/
infanticide
• Health and nutrition
• Enabling Education For the Girl Child
• Gender Sensitization of Educational System
• Abolition of Child Marriage
• Prevention of Girl Child Abuse, Exploitation and Violence
• Welfare and Development of Adolescent Girls Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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Chapter Five
Recommendations of the Sub-Group
Survival of the Girl Child and Her Right to be Born
National efforts to ensure the survival of the girl child and her right to be born, and to be an
informed, secure and productive participating member of the community and society will
necessarily have to be multidimensional in nature with legislative, preventive, advocacy and
programmatic inputs. State-level interventions will have to be based on accurate assessment
of area-specific issues and factors.
Effective implementation of the PC and PNDT Act
The premier Act to prevent pre conceptual and pre natal sex determination and consequent
female feticide is the Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of
Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (PC and PNDT Act). It seeks to prohibit the techniques of pre
conception and prenatal sex determination and to preempt the misuse of such technologies. It
has provisions for use, regulation and monitoring of ultrasound machines to curb their misuse
for detection of the sex of the fetus and provides punishment for violation of these provisions.
Unfortunately, the existing provisions and current implementation mechanisms have failed to
make any significant impact on the rising trend of female feticide. In fact, the situation has
worsened in past few decades with a fall in the female sex ratio of the 0-6 year age group
from 976/1000 as reported in 1961 to 927/1000 in the 2001 census.
The Act therefore needs to be thoroughly reviewed to evaluate its existing administrative,
enforcement and monitoring provisions and put in place such mechanisms that can tackle
the problem of sex determination and feticide in a more effective manner. Some suggestions
in this regard include:
National Inspection & Monitoring Committee
The National Inspection and Monitoring Committee has been constituted as per the directives
of the Supreme Court, to assess the ground realities through field visits. It also monitors the
prosecutions launched against unregistered bodies and those violating provisions in the
Act/Rules. In order to strengthen the inspection and monitoring process it is suggested that :
• The counterparts of National Inspection and Monitoring Committee (NIMC) could also
be set up in States with a multiple membership including committed NGOs. There should
be inbuilt checks and balance mechanisms by sending members from one region to
inspect and monitor other regions.
• The Secretary of Women and Child Development of the concerned State should head the
proposed State Inspection and Monitoring Committee.
• The inspections of the Committee should have a surprise element and should be
undertaken without advance notice.
• The inspection of the Committee would need to be conducted in the Districts, which have
the worst female sex ratio.
Appropriate Authorities
Appropriate Authorities comprise of officers notified by the State Government under the
PC& PNDT Act for granting, suspending or canceling registration of Genetic Counseling
Centres, to investigate complaints etc. Generally the Authority consists of three members,
one of whom is a medical officer.
• Many more Appropriate Authorities (AA) should be notified keeping in view in vast
geographical spread. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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• AA should be set up in districts, which have very low female sex ratios.
• The composition of the AA must be changed to strengthen the role and responsibility of
government officials of suitable rank, such as DM, to enlist the services of responsible
NGOs, and to guard against undue influence of the medical profession in assessing and
ruling on offences. It should be ensured that the persons notified as AA should desirably
be neither doctors or from the medical profession; preferably they should be chosen from
retired Bureaucracy, judiciary, prominent NGOs or Social activists.
• The inclusion of Women organizations, Women Development Centers and Study Centers,
people’s representatives at all levels from Gram Panchayat, block levels etc. is also
important in the list of Appropriate Authorities.
• The Appropriate Authorities should take the help of Government Departments such as
Women and Child, Revenue, Municipal Authorities etc.
• The help of the police may also be taken by the Appropriate Authorities to raid,
investigate etc. the suspect clinics.
• Provisions of the Act, official commitment to take action, and preventive and corrective
action should be made widely known through channels that effectively reach the public.
Stringent penalties and punitive action
• Female feticide should be treated as a crime and not just a social evil and therefore the
State must take primarily corrective, preventive and punitive action to address the crime.
• Magistrates, DMs/CEOs, Divisional Commissioners should be held accountable for
performances, lapses in enforcing the law.
• Enhancement of punishment for all violations of PNDT Act. There should be a firm crack
down on offenders with exemplary punishments
• Correctives should include suspension and/or cancellation of license, seizure and
confiscation of equipment, closure of clinics, public censure of doctors and clinics, public
notification of such corrective actions taken
• State Medical Council should take action to suspend/deregister errant doctors and give
wide publicity to this.
• A system of telescoping of offences can be formulated with punishment becoming more
stringent with the number of times offences are committed
• As foeticide is murder of the unborn child, it should be examined whether it can be
treated as a crime under IPC and brought under the jurisdiction of Sessions Court
• A website could be developed to disseminate to wider audiences and flag the names of
black-listed organizations/clinics/doctors.
• There must be better mandatory record-keeping, and obligation to submit full
information required under Form F. The clinic should be suspended in any instance of
default, until the default is corrected in conformity with legal requirements. Public
notification of such suspensions should be made.
• A system of incentives can be formulated (as in the case of drugs and narcotics seizures)
for tip offs on clinics which are indulging in sex determination.
Monitoring and Surveillance
• The income of the Genetic Counseling Centers (GCCs) should be cross-checked with
number of ultra Sonography (USGs) performed by them so that unreported USGs can be
tracked. Recording of the PAN Numbers. of the doctors/ultrasonologists should be made
mandatory and tax-returns of errant doctors checked by IT Department. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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• A Database on raids and convictions conducted should be built, which would include the
names of the clinics, the earlier case records and current status.
• Census of static and mobile USG machines need to be collected as there are a large
number of unregistered machines in operation.
• Correlation to be done between the need for USGs and number of Mobile machines that
are operating in different areas so that a check can be made on the growing number of
mobile machines.
• Every GCCs should prominently display IEC material which show the positive sides of
having a girl child
• Lack of awareness of the Act leads medical personnel as well as the general public to
believe that sex determination and foeticide are also covered under MTP. Therefore
education about the provisions of the Act should be widespread.
• Existing PNDT Act involves setting up of too many bodies and it is difficult for these
bodies to interact, coordinate and share information. There is need to consolidate and
merge bodies to allow more cohesive functioning.
All the above suggestions can be incorporated within the aegis of the existing provisions of
the PC and PNDT Act. However as a long term and more permanent measure, the Act needs
to strengthened significantly through appropriate amendments giving it more teeth and power
to expeditiously book and convict errant medical personnel, increase the levels of punishment
and perhaps even prescribe deterrent measures for members of the public who indulge in such
practices. This may require eventual amendment of the Act.
Compulsory registration of pregnancies and births will help in ensuring that unwarranted
abortions do not take place. PRIs should be given the responsibility of taking note of female
births and tracking the progress of girl children.
However as a long term and more permanent measure, the Act needs to strengthened
significantly through appropriate amendments giving it more teeth and power to
expeditiously book and convict errant medical personnel, increase the levels of punishment
and perhaps even prescribe deterrent measures for public who indulge in such practices. This
may require eventual amendment of the Act.
Nation wide awareness and sensitization campaign against female feticide
The discriminatory treatment meted to the girl child is largely an outcome of the traditional
perspectives of society towards the girl child which is reflective of the growing incidence of
crime and violence against her- a phenomenon that starts even before she takes birth through
female feticide.
A unique feature of the problem of female feticide is that it is not restricted to any single
social or economic group or groups. In fact, it cuts across caste and income barriers as
evidenced from the fact that well to do States such as Haryana, Delhi and Punjab have the
most adverse female sex ratios. There are also large sections of poor and BPL families who
want to get rid of their daughter as she is a burden for them.
It is felt that unless immediate action is taken on a national scale to change this mind set, the
girl child is on her way to utter deprivation, destitution and even extinction. In other words
the girl child is heading towards becoming an endangered species. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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There is urgent need to embark on a massive nationwide sensitization and advocacy
campaign with specific focus on the importance of the girl child to reinforce the view that she
is an asset and not a burden. The campaign would need to be multi pronged involving the
services of multi media as well other community and peer advocacy groups (such as spiritual
leaders, parliamentarians) specifically designed for different sections of society.
The campaign design would focus primarily on the positive aspects of girl child and remove
misconceptions and myths that affect her worth and self esteem. Many traditional concepts
are prevalent which perceives that a girl is ‘paraya dhan’ and she is not a permanent member
of her birth family; that by giving her a share in the family property/ assets , these assets will
move away from the family after her marriage; that she will cost the family a great deal of
money in terms of dowry; that only sons can carry the legacy of the family and the daughter
may not take care of her parents after her marriage nor she can perform last rites for her
parents etc.
All these perceptions as well as societal practices need to be changed through sensitization
and advocacy. A large part of such beliefs arise from a desire to maintain land holdings/
property within the family through their sons which is instrumental in giving rise to
patriarchal structure of society. Therefore, widespread dissemination of information on
legislations or laws which provide equal share and opportunities to girls in property/ assets
or employment, laws prohibiting dowry and child marriage etc need to be conducted. Also,
it essential to show positive and vibrant images of girls who are professionally and
economically accomplished so that society realizes that with proper education and other
support facilities ,a daughter can be as empowered as a son and as such is equally capable of
taking care of her parents. She can even perform their last rites as spiritual texts do not deny
these rights to her.
While reinforcing these positive images of girls, the society will also need to be educated on
the negative effects of a falling sex ratio , especially that the number of progeny born
including males will be greatly reduced on account of fewer women to bear them; even the
male children who will be born will be of much weaker constitution on account of frail health
and frequent child bearing history of the women; polyandry will become common ( as is
already happening in States like Haryana) which will lead to a number of genetic and other
related problems of physical and mental disabilities etc.
At present, the Media budget of MWCD is limited and cannot cater to the magnitude and
diversity of the nationwide campaign for prevention of female feticide and reinstating the
value of the girl child. The Sub Group, therefore, recommends that the fund allotment for ‘
Media ‘ in the Eleventh Plan should be considerably enhanced and a certain proportion of this
budget earmarked for improving the status of girl child.
Scheme to address falling female sex ratio
There are certain sections of society (mainly BPL families) where awareness and
sensitization of the value of girl child may not be solely sufficient impetus for them to retain
their daughter for various reasons unique to that family/community .
In order to allow the female child in such families to be born and not aborted, a special
provision should be put in place whereby those who do not want to raise their daughters can
place them in specially appointed cradle centers supported by the State. In other words, the
State will undertake the responsibility of the well being of the child including placing her in Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
14
loving adoption/foster homes. For this purpose a new scheme of ‘Cradle Baby’ or ‘Palna
Scheme’ needs to be formulated for prevention of female feticide and rescuing the missing
daughters . This will ensure that unwanted female children need not face extinction in the
womb but come into the world as it is their right to be born.
Conditional Transfer Scheme (Cash and Non-cash)
While the mind set towards a daughter needs to be perceptibly changed for all economic
groups, however in case of less economically well off families, poverty is a huge constraint
that stands in their way to raise and educate their children. Thus given a limited resource
basket, these families would rather opt for a son than a daughter. In order to enable them to
consciously retain their daughters, they would require financial incentives and other non
cash assistance.
It is with this intention that an innovative scheme of ‘Conditional Cash and non cash Transfer
Scheme is proposed, wherein cash and non cash transfers will be provided to the family of
the girl child (preferably the mother) on fulfilling certain conditionalities, for the girl child -
such as birth and registration of the girl child, immunization; enrollment to school; retention
in school; and delaying the marriage age beyond 18 years. This will be in addition to the
various incentives, which already exists for girl child given by the Centre and the States.
The objective of the Scheme is two fold – the direct and tangible objective is to provide a set
of staggered financial incentives for families to encourage them to retain the girl child and
educate her etc; the more subtle and intangible objective is to change the attitudinal mindset
of the family towards the girl- by linking cash and non cash transfers to her well being. This
will force the families to look upon the girl as an asset rather then a liability since her very
existence has led to cash inflow to the family.
The Scheme may be initiated as a pilot project in selected backward districts of the country.
A concept note on the Conditional Transfer Scheme is at Annexure ‘A’.
Health and Nutrition for Girl Child
Discrimination in the provision of adequate and timely nutrition and health inputs to the girl
child is a persisting problem as result of which these groups suffer from various problems
like under weight, malnutrition, anaemia, micro nutrient deficiencies, stunted growth etc.
Health and nutrition awareness and education to dispel discrimination against girls is
imperative. An intensive social mobilization of communities especially, women’s group and
adolescent groups needs to be undertaken and should focus on particularly on immunization
the girl child, promotion of breast feeding, micro-nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition, its
effect on child-bearing and removal of food taboos for girls so that nutritious food is provided
to them during their growing years along with regular health check up at PHCs.
One of the factors for high mortality and morbidity among adolescent girls is high risks
involved in their pregnancy, as they are physically and biologically not prepared for
childbirth. It is very essential that such pregnant adolescent girls should be provided adequate
health care by Anganwadi and Asha workers and also promote institutional deliveries. An
integrated approach taking care of lifeskills , nutrition, health of adolescents girls may pave
the way for healthy society/ better quality human resource. The universalization of Nutrition
Programme for Adolescent Girls and its merger with Kishori Shakti Yojana will go a long
way in supplementing nutritional requirements and also to empower the girls socially and
economically. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
15
Capacity building of Anganwadi worker should be undertaken so that she is made aware of
the special needs of young girls and adolescents. The progress made by each girl should be
monitored by PHCs by maintaining proper health records of all girls. Special attention should
be given to more vulnerable girls especially those affected by HIV/AIDS, trafficked victims,
physically and mentally challenged girls to provide them with special health and nutrition
inputs.
Enabling Education for the Girl Child
The need to encourage all girls to enroll in school and to retain them in the school system is
imperative as education not only improves the worth and self esteem of the girl child but also
enables her to become an economically productive woman and delays her marriage age.
Community Vigilance Committees should be formed at village level and the members should
ensure that every girl in the village is enrolled and regularly goes to school. Mid- day meals
should be made compulsory for girls irrespective of the stage of their school education. This
has a two-fold effect- on the one hand it encourages the child to remain in school and
secondly it provides the girl with a nourishing meal.
There are a number of logistic constraints, which restrict girls from attending schools,
especially after they have crossed the primary stage. These include distance from school and
lack of girl friendly facilities in school buildings. Efforts should be made to enroll and retain
girls in school by reducing distance of school from home as far as possible. There is need to
provide safe transport to girls who have to travel considerable distances. In this context, the
proposed Conditional Transfer scheme, can examine the possibility of providing bicycles
to girls for traveling to school (as a non cash transfers) to young girls( at elementary and
secondary school levels) so that they need not depend on irregular public transport services.
Also, if there are no elementary schools or secondary schools in the vicinity, Dept of
Education may undertake alternative schooling system (like National Programme for
Education of Girls for Elementary Education) which can take care of their schooling needs
till such time an elementary school is made available. More residential schools (on the lines
of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalya) and hostels should be provided for girls (especially
adolescents) to facilitate their continuation in education.
An important reason for girls dropping out of school is the lack of proper toilet and sanitary
facilities. High priority is therefore needed to be accorded to providing separate girls’ toilet
with proper water and sanitation facilities. Efforts through Department of Education should
be made to increase the number of female teachers at all levels so as to encourage girl child to
continue in school in a safer environment. Further, Bridge schools with quality education
package should be provided to girl children, especially street children, child labourers,
seasonal migrants, who may have not been in formal education system. These bridge schools
should ultimately lead to their integration in the formal system.
As girl children are pressed into home based duties especially sibling care , the number of
ICDS and AWCs in remote areas should be increased to relieve young girl children of their
sibling care duties and help in reducing drop out rates. Provision of adequate number of
crèches in urban and rural areas also facilitates girl children to attend school without the
burden of sibling care. Also, it is important that Day-care center / Crèches for the girl
children themselves be made available after school hours for their safety when their parents
are at work. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
16
Pre school education is an very important input not only for 0-6 years old but also for the
older children as it serves as the motivating factor for the girl child to enroll in school. For
this purpose, Training of Anganwadi workers and regular teachers at pre-school levels as well
in regular school is required. Special training also needs to be given for early detection of
mental disability among girl children and appropriate interventions that are needed to address
their educational requirements. Additionally, parents and families of such children should be
educated and provided with coping mechanisms to enable them to take care and support the
girl child. Special incentive/ scholarships and recognition should be provided to motivate
girls and help them to continue their education, especially those who succeed in education
extra-curricular activities etc.
The proposed Conditional Transfer Scheme has a separate Cash and non cash transfer
component to induce enrolment of girls in school and subsequently for their retention at
different stages - primary, elementary and secondary.
Gender Sensitization of Educational System
Engendering educational system involves not just establishing girl friendly schools but also
creating a gender awareness in the educational system so that the entire educational
environment is sensitive to the special needs of girls.
For this purpose the MWCD should work in close collaboration with Department of
Education and ancillary bodies to ensure that the curricula and syllabi are gender sensitive.
Positive images of girls need to be reflected in textbooks and special modules formulated
which reinforce the economic and social empowerment of women. Such inputs in the
curricula will help in improving the status of girls and their self esteem. It will also give them
the necessary encouragement to improve their economic and social status. Apart from this,
special modules on social problems facing the society and specially girls should be included
in the syllabi so that these issues are openly and freely discussed and awareness and
knowledge gets disseminated. Such issues may include personal hygiene, early marriage and
pregnancy, prevention against abuse, exploitation and violence, HIV/ AIDS, modules to
enlighten them on the benefits of education, health, hygiene and nutrition, economic
empowerment etc. The Ministry should also empower adolescent girls through “Balika
Sanghas” to discuss these issues in their peer groups.
Gender Sensitization and gender awareness programmes should be organized and conducted
for teachers, PRIs especially in rural areas on the rights of the girl child, social problems
faced by them and to provide counseling or help if required.
Abolition of Child Marriage
The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 (CMRA) provides for punishment to those who have
allowed, contracted, performed or have been involved in a child marriage. Yet it’s efficacy
has been limited in preventing child marriage as thrust of the Act is on ‘prevention’ and not
declaring the marriage null and void after it has occurred. Also, on account of societal
acceptance of child marriages and the tacit cooperation of the bureaucracy, police and
politicians, the reported cases are very few.
The amendments to CMRA is under preparation by the MWCD and the amended bill is likely
to be called the ‘ Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill’ with emphasis on ‘prohibition’ instead
of just ‘prevention’. The legislation to be successful however should include provisions for
declaring child marriages null and void and also impose stringent punishments on all parties Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
17
which have supported the child marriage. In order to curb the evil practice there is also a
need for the States to have a special child marriage prevention cell with requisite powers to
prevent solemnization of child marriages, provide counseling services and facilitate the
effective prosecution.
The best method to prevent child marriages is to take adequate steps to ensure that they do
not take place. For this, major advocacy and sensitization programme through all channels of
communication and social dialogue, including motivation of local leadership multi-media
campaign needs to be undertaken to reach out to all sections of the society especially
targeting both parents and youth. The campaign would stress on the negative impact of child
marriage in terms of early pregnancies, high rates of MMR, IMR, mortality and morbidity of
the girl etc; it would also emphasize the many positive developments of not allowing child
marriages such as better health and well being of the girl, higher educational attainments,
making the girl child economically productive through well designed skill development and
vocational training courses. All these will provide an impetus and insight to her family that
delaying the marriage age has many advantages. Steps should be taken to ensure that every
school (both Formal and Non-Formal), Balika Sanghas, Youth Groups and others impart
compulsory education on sexuality and reproductive health.
The Ministry should partner with NGOs to combat child marriage. Also, it should mobilize,
develop and promote community initiatives to support delayed marriage through PRIs,
Community based organizations, maulvis/ pandits/priests/religious leaders and self help
groups. Awareness generation and training on various laws pertaining to women (including
the now being amended CMRA) as well sensitization on gender rights should be important
inputs in Capacity building programmes for different functionaries and stake holders like law
enforcement agencies, judiciary, parliamentarians, PRIs etc
Compulsory registration of marriages is a significant deterrent to child marriages. The
Government should ensure that this Registration is brought into force and implemented
effectively to disallow child marriages. The local panchayats should register all marriages
taking place in their jurisdiction and thus keep a close vigil on occurrences of child
marriages. Every Panchayat should put up a notice to the effect that child marriages are
illegal and indicate the consequences that will result if such marriages take place.
Increased educational opportunities for girls have an important bearing on delaying their
marriage. Therefore it is necessary to strive for higher enrolment of girls in elementary and
secondary school education. At the same time the girl child need to be exposed to skill
building, capacity development and vocational training so that livelihood options become
available. This has the possibility of further delaying the age of marriage of the girl,
especially if she is an economically productive member of the family. Further the Ministry
should explore the possibility of providing safe and non-exploitative employment
opportunities to the girl child, especially adolescent girls by collaborating with vocational
training institutes. In this regard, the Ministry will encourage private partnership also.
The proposed Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme would supplement the above efforts by
providing cash and non cash transfers to families to encourage them to retain their girls in
school and to delay the girl’s marriage beyond 18 years.
Girl Child Abuse, Exploitation and Violence Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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The efforts to prevent girl child abuse and violence calls for strengthening and strict
enforcement of laws for rape, sexual harassment, trafficking, domestic violence, dowry and
other related issues. Concerted capacity building and training programme on gender related
legislation and issues for important functionaries and stakeholders like police, judiciary,
prosecutors, general society, NGOs and PRIs needs to be taken up on a nationwide scale.
A major lacuna in assessing the magnitude and spread of various types of violence against
girls is the absence of proper gender disaggregated reporting mechanisms. It is essential to
put such a system in place with proper networking and inbuilt tracking systems. Community
Vigilance Groups along with Self-Help Groups and Youth Groups should ensure that girl
children in their community are protected against abuse, violence and exploitation. These
groups should closely work with Panchayati Raj System and Child Protection Cell being
proposed under Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). To ensure that the above groups
carry out the work efficiently, sensitization and training should be conducted on regular basis.
Open and frank discussions and discourses on issues related to abuse, exploitation and
violence against girl child should be freely allowed to sensitize the general public. This
along with multi media awareness and sensitization campaigns can be instrumental in
changing the mindset of society and eliminating the violence and bias against female child.
Keeping in view the vulnerability of girl child, special schemes and programmes would need
to be formulated for or their protection. It is also necessary to list such occupations/ activities
that pose danger or are hazardous to the girl child and ensure that she is not lured or duped
into dangerous activities.
Child Friendly police stations should be constituted in all districts through the setting up of
women’ police stations, women’s help desk in police stations and wide dissemination of child
help-line. The Police Stations should have a team of policewomen, social workers and
counselors to attend to the needs of the girl child victim.
Well thought out Rehabilitation packages need to be designed with specific modules for
specific types of abuse/ violence perpetuated so that the victim receives the correct and
appropriate rehabilitation required to be successfully reintegrated back into society. Family
counseling and services too need to be provided to families of girls affected by abuse and
exploitation so that they can provide care and support to the victim.
The following paragraphs depict select cases of violence and abuse against the girl child and
the requisite remedial measures that need to be taken.
Trafficking for Commercial Sexual Exploitation
The Eleventh Plan will need to adopt a Multi-pronged Approach to combat Trafficking with
distinct components of :
(i) Preventive measures;
(ii) Rescue and Rehabilitation measures;
(iii) Awareness generation and sensitization and
(iv) Training and capacity building.
Based on the this approach the following initiatives are required:
• Preparation of a National Policy on combating trafficking which will address all issues
pertaining to trafficking be it sexual exploitation, bonded labour, sale of organs. It will lay Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
19
down clearly the prevention aspects, laws and legislations, the role of the implementing
authorities, rescue and rehabilitation, reintegration etc.
• It is also necessary to consider the formulation of a full fledged composite, holistic
legislation in “Trafficking in Persons” in consultation with Ministry of Law, which will
have separate sections pertaining to different types of trafficking such as for commercial
sexual purposes, organ transplantation, labour, beggary, drugs and psychotropic
substances, firearms etc. The proposed omnibus legislation will help in strengthening the
cases against traffickers and also provide speedy justice and relief to the victims. For
example, cases relating to trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation can be registered
under ITPA, IPC, JJ Act, proposed Offences Against Children’s Bill etc., which will
ensure that there is no lacunae or loophole for the trafficker to escape.
• Comprehensive scheme with above components to combat trafficking and for rescue and
rehabilitation of victims. The proposed scheme may consist of two components – one, for
preventive activities to be undertaken through awareness generation programs like peer
education, rally, campaign, poster, booklet, wallpaper, handbill, street play, puppet show
or through any other traditional art, and use of radio and local news paper. The other
component may be for rescue and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking for commercial
sexual exploitation and provision of rescue cost, counseling to overcome psychological
trauma, shelter home, medical care, legal aid, witness/victim protection, education,
vocational training, networking with various stakeholders, repatriation and restoration etc.
For victims who are not in a position to return to their families, thrust also has to be laid
on vocational training and placement
• Specially designed strategies to combat trafficking for sexual exploitation in different
areas like sex tourism, pilgrim places, beach sex tourism, film industry sex exploitation,
pornography, cyber etc are also required.
• There is also an urgent need for mapping out vulnerable high-risk areas (especially areas
affected by natural and man made disasters) and the creation of a tracking system for
trafficked victims to enable their rescue and repatriation.
• Strengthening the information networking between different stakeholders, intra-State,
inter-State and within the Region is also required. The data base of trafficked and rescued
victims, number of arrests made and convictions achieved of traffickers and other culprits
also needs to be strengthened.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development had requested the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) to set up a dedicated nodal Cell in the MHA for prevention of trafficking.
This Cell should come into operation immediately as it is required to coordinate, network
and provide feedback to the State Governments and other concerned agencies as well as
share data inputs, best practices, innovations etc. on a sustained and continuous basis to
enable better outcomes.
• At present there are a number of problems and constraints faced by enforcement
authorities of one State when they have to rescue trafficked victims from other State and
book the traffickers. A uniform set of procedures would need to be prepared to facilitate
inter State rescue. The proposed Cell in MHA could in consultation with the States,
formulate a protocol for this purpose so that the role of local police and other
functionaries in the source and destination areas are clearly mentioned.
• The MWCD as a part of its endeavor to engender different organs of the Government had
requested MHA to recruit at least 30 percent women personnel in its police forces; to set
up Women’s Police Stations in every town and a dedicated women’s help desk in all
police stations to cater to the special needs of women and also to inculcate gender
sensitivity in the Police force. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
20
• The setting up of special Anti Human Trafficking Units in select States is being proposed
as part of the MHA/ UNODC project. Based on the success of such units the same needs
to be replicated in different States/ cities.
• The MHA would need to formulate a Comprehensive Witness Protection Programme
whereby vulnerable witnesses who are victims of trafficking and other serious crimes get
adequate protection from threats and intimidation of traffickers till such time the latter are
convicted. The Witness Protection programme should have provision for an identity
cover for the victim so that her location and other details are not disclosed and provision
of food, shelter and other immediate needs are taken care of. As far as possible, recorded
statements should be used in the court as evidence and the witnesses need not have to
undergo the trauma of traveling time and again to the court houses.
• Existing laws related to trafficking of women and children as well as the Immoral Traffic
(Prevention) Act 1956 (now being amended) should be strictly implemented. Further, an
intensive training programme in collaboration with various agencies and experts should
be organized and conducted for Judicial Officers, Medical Officers, Paramedical Staff,
Police (including Border Security Forces, Railway Police, Airport Authorities and
CRPF), Counsellors, Social workers, PRI, District level authorities, State Level
Authorities, NGO personnel’s and families on trafficking. This should be done at both
linear and horizontal level. Preparation of Training Manuals for Police and Prosecutors is
also required. The information networking between different stakeholders, intra-State,
inter-State and within the Region should be strengthened so as to facilitate better
implementation of the laws.
• The root cause of trafficking, which is poverty, and economic vulnerability of women and
children needs to be effectively tackled if the menace of trafficking has to be eradicated.
Sustained livelihood options in such high trafficking risk regions/families especially can
go a long way in preventing trafficking. There is a need to coordinate and network
initiatives aimed at reducing poverty, rebuilding society after calamities and emergencies
and adopting a holistic approach to interventions which not only target the victims but
also their families and communities. Convergence of programs at the ground level would
ensure that benefits reach the most vulnerable families in the source areas, thereby
preventing trafficking of women and children.
• Community vigilance groups and Balika Sanghas need to be formed in source areas and
disaster prone areas for combating trafficking of women and children. Local institutions
such as Panchayats may be made accountable for tracking outbound movements of girl
child. More childlines should be established at village level and wide publicity should be
given to their services.
Children of Sex Workers
• There is high probability of children of sex workers entering the sex trade. As a result of
their social stigma these children also face physical, mental and sexual abuse. This leads
them to take up sex work at a very early age, well inducted by the traffickers who are
none other than the older sex workers.
• Interventions should look at enabling a better life for these children through education
(Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, non formal education systems, open schools etc) .Health and
hygiene education should be conducted for these children as due to their high risk
environment , the possibilities of contracting STD/ HIV/AIDs etc are quite high. Life
skills education and livelihood options are essential components of a protective
prevention package for these children which will also involve their mothers. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
21
• Keeping the above in mind it is quite essential that a separate program should be
formulated for these children.
Prevention of cross border trafficking
India is a signatory to a large number of International Conventions including SAARC
Convention on Preventing and Combating of Trafficking of Women and Children for
Prostitution. There is need to strengthen regional and overseas initiatives to prevent
trafficking and also enable rescue and repatriation of children to their countries of origin.
Some initiatives that can be taken include:
• Formulation of a Protocol for inter-country rescue (especially among SAARC countries)
and repatriation of women and children in a humane manner;
• Harmonizing definitions and terminology as well as legislations across SAARC nations,
• Developing an information sharing system on select and key parameters which influence
trafficking and for tracking of victims,
• Capacity building and training of different agencies in the Region, etc
• MEA to put in place help lines and other support facilities in their Embassies and High
Commissions for immediate response to pleas for help; also to extend support facilities
like shelter, food, clothing, medical and legal help for rescued victims.
• Need for an omnibus anti trafficking legislation
Domestic Girl Child Labour
The Child labour laws need to be strictly implemented to prevent girl child labour.
Recommendations include:
• Ensure that the employers of domestic child labour especially of girls are punished.
• Ensure that the domestic girl child labourers are rescued in a gender-sensitive manner and
kept in a safe place until repatriation.
• Ensure that a holistic and complete package is provided to rescued girl domestic labour.
• Preventing girl child labour through employment assurance schemes for poor parents.
• Retain the girl in educational system for which the assistance under the proposed
conditional Cash transfer scheme can be utilized.
Welfare and Development of Adolescent Girls (11-18 years)
Focused attentions needs to be given to the welfare, development and empowerment of
Adolescent girls as they presently have only limited opportunity to become informed and
contributing members of their community and society.
Adolescents also have physical and biological needs at this stage of their development, it is
important to take care of their psycho-social needs and encourage them to develop their selfesteem and self confidence. Counseling centers for adolescents should be opened in all
schools and information centers at every block for adolescents. Balika Sanghas could be
formed in every village of the country. The Balika Sanghas play a role of catalysts in
creating an enabling environment and becoming the support group for empowerment of girls.
Adolescent boys would also be co-opted, so that they are gender sensitised.
Further, an empowerment approach in tandem with rights based approach would need to be
adopted so that information and training inputs can be translated into decisions and behavior
changes. The aim should be to raise the profile of the girls and support them in becoming
change agents for themselves, their peers and the community, in general. Efforts should also
be made to converge programmes/ schemes of various different Departments and service Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
22
providers from Government and Non-Government Organisations. Efforts should also be
made to involve the family of adolescents and community as a whole.
The Ministry in collaboration with reputed institutions and NGOs should undertake training
and awareness programmes for adolescent girls on crucial issues of reproductive system,
changes during the adolescent phase and sensitisation to oppressive social systems, social
realities and their rights.
Vocational training and skill development keeping newly emerging areas in mind should be
imparted to adolescent girls as part of their education (formal and non-formal), so that her
marriage and motherhood are deferred/delayed and she is made economically independent.
Babu Bahini Manch Initiative
Babu Bahini Manch (BBM) is an initiative evolved by an organization Gram Niyojan Kendra (GNK)
for its development projects implemented at Ratanpur and Laxmipur Blocks, Tehsil Nautanwa,
District Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh. Inspite of Maharaj ganj being a very backward district, formation
of BBMs has proved to be a very successful strategy towards gender equality and to bring about
change in attitude and practices of the adolescent boys and girls of the villages covered by GNK.
It is a forum where adolescent boys and girls meet on a regular basis and work upon areas of societal
interest and self awareness like, education, health, sanitation and hygiene, human rights, rights of
children, ecological issues, family life education, etc.
BBMs have been in existence from past more than three years and have brought about visible changes
in perceptions of growing children as well as adults. Some results include:
• There have been instances where adolescent boys of BBM have been instrumental in bringing
back children especially girl children to school system.
• There has been a change in the mindset of minority communities where girls placed in religious
and traditional education have been integrated with mainstream schooling and are now learning
computers.
• There is a change in marriage practices as well. Girls are consulted for their alliances and sent to
their marital home only after they have attained the legal age of marriage.
• Employment of girls is accepted and appreciated.
• BBM initiative can be a role model to be replicated in other parts of the country.
Expansion of NPAG and Merger of the Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) and Nutrition
Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG)
Adolescents are overlooked in most health programmes . Although one of the major cause of
malnutrition is inadequate food intake, ignorance about healthy feeding practices is another
major reason for this. Special nutrition package for adolescent girls is required as their health
standards are very poor. This is evident from the NFHS-2 which estimated that more than
one third (36%) of women , have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of less than 18.5. In the age
group 15-19 yrs., 38.8% of girls have BMI of less than 18.5. Also, high prevalence of
anaemia was also brought out by the NFHS-2. wherein 56% of girls in the age group 15-19
yrs suffer from anaemia (36% mild anaemia, 17.9 % moderate anaemia and 1.9 % severe
anaemia). The Supreme Court in its in WP (C) No. 196 of 2001, vide order dated 28-11-2001
had ordered that each adolescent girl to get 500 calories and 20-25 grams of protein.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development had launched Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY)
as a part of ICDS in the year 2000, which seeking to provide health and nutrition education, Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
23
job training, life skills, vocational skills to empower the adolescent girls. Under KSY grantin-aid @ Rs. 1.10 lakh per block is given to the States/UTs every year. In the year 2005-06,
this scheme was extended to all the 6118 ICDS projects in the country. Interventions like
health and nutrition, education, supplementary nutrition (to a very limited no of girls), non
formal education, vocational education are taken up under KSY.
The Nutritional Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG) was started on a pilot basis in the
year 2002-03 in 51 districts of the country. Under this programme undernourished adolescent
girls (body-weight < 35 kg) are given 6 kg of food-grains per month, free of cost for an initial
period of three months initially. Thereafter, if their nutritional status does not improve, they
are referred to a doctor, meanwhile the provision in terms of free food grains is continued.
Efforts should be made for addressing these nutritional and other issues relating to adolescent
girls in an integrated manner through the Merger of KSY and NPAG, and expansion of the
coverage of Supplementary Nutrition Programme to the adolescent girls in all districts in the
country in the 11
th
Plan. An integrated approach taking care of life skills, nutrition, health of
adolescents would pave the way for a healthier and more equitable society.
The requirement of funds can be estimated once the strategy/parameters of the scheme are
finalized. It is estimated that the number of adolescent girls (11-18 years) to be 8.5 crores
and 1/3
rd
of these to be undernourished (2.83 crores). At present 6 kg of food-grains are
given per girl per month under NPAG. Average price of wheat and rice (BPL issue price) is
Rs.4.15 and Rs.5.65 per respectively. The cost of fortification of wheat is about Rs.1.40 per
Kg. Therefore, average cost of fortified wheat flour would be Rs.5.55 per kg. Therefore cost
of providing food grains to 2.83 crore girls per annum would be 2.83X.5.6X12X6= Rs.1141
crores. Besides, the existing provision for KSY is Rs.1.1 lakh per Block per annum. This
was prescribed in the year 1991 and therefore, this provision needs to be revised upwards.
Assuming the revised limit to be Rs.5 lakhs per Block per annum, the requirement for 6119
Blocks would be Rs.306 crores. Therefore the total cost for these two interventions would be
Rs.1141+Rs.306= Rs.1447 crores. We may earmark additional 10% for other services,
administrative and monitoring costs. Therefore, the total requirement of funds, in a year
could be Rs.1591 crores (say Rs.1600 crores). A draft scheme for empowerment of
adolescent girls is at Annexure ‘B’.
A proposal for expansion of NPAG to all the districts and its merger with KSY, indicating a
budget of Rs. 1600 crore may be considered in the XI Plan to improve the nutritional status of
adolescent girls and also to empower them socially and economically.
Girl Child Friendly Villages / Clusters
In order to encourage and enthuse villages to become more sensitive to the girl child’s needs
and facilitate her welfare, development and empowerment, it is suggested that villages be
given a set of parameters/ indicators to monitor and such villages that comply with all the
indicators be declared “Girl Child Friendly’. An illustrative list of girl friendly indicators,
grouped under 3 categories, viz, health and nutrition, education and protection is provided.
Health and nutrition
• pregnancy registration
• immunization for mothers
• nutrition supplements for to mother
• institutional deliveries Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
24
• regular health check-up.
• accessibility of health centre
• availability of health worker
• availability of medicine
• regular monitoring of health of child
• immunization records of the girl child
• supplementary nutrition of the girl child
• micro nutrients supply
Education
• Pre-school education & supplementary nutrition facilities
• enrolment of girl-child in school
• Primary education facility
• availability and accessibility of elementary and secondary education facility
• no.of female teachers
• no. of trained teachers
• provision of mid-day meal/ supplementary nutrition
• availability of school books/stationery/school uniform
• pucca school buildings
• toilet / sanitation facility in school
• furniture in school
• extra-curricular activities in schools
• sports facilities
• special provisions for SC/ ST/OBC
• special education for disabled
Protection
• birth registration of the girl child
• protection from child abuse
• protection of child marriage
• protection from sexual exploitation and trafficking
• prevention of child labour
• care for street children
Based on the number of indicators fulfilled the State Government/ District administration
may like to reward these villages/ clusters with awards/recognition /citation etc. Based on the
number of village/ clusters declared “Girl Child Friendly’ the concerned State may also be
recognized for its efforts at the national level for which the Ministry of Women and Child
Development make constitute a special award.
Communication Issues
There is an urgent need to alter the attitudes and practices that now threaten the girl child. It
is felt that unless immediate action is taken on a national scale to change this mind set, the
girl child’s deprivation will persist. In many parts of India, she is already at risk of extinction.
In other words, all measures to protect the girl child, and to secure her rights, must rest on the
official position that she is heading towards becoming an endangered species. In this
endeavor means of communication can play a key role. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
25
1. All channels and means of communication and dissemination must be mobilised for
Public Education to promote the equal rights and status of girl children, and to alert and
inform the public against female foeticide, child marriage, discrimination and
mistreatment, and all forms of gender injustice in childhood. It is important to utilize
formal and non-formal channels operating in the countryside and community, and to use
local idiom. The awareness-building and measures for attitude change should develop and
rely upon two-way communication rather than one-way transmission. Programming
should be interactive and linked to extension education by local service providers, and
aimed at interesting all kinds of audiences in the community, not just mothers and not just
girls.
2. Communication must address the social view that women are of lower worth than men,
and born to serve, and the related perception that daughters are liabilities and drain family
resources. Family neglect and abuse of girls is a fallout of their perceived low worth.
Public education needs to target both families and the surrounding community.
3. Dialogue should be generated at community level on both traditional and modern/’pop’
songs, sayings and stories. This should be aimed at both women and men, and at children
themselves.
4. An analysis of existing lullabies, traditional songs and lyrics will be required, since most
relating to children celebrate the birth and happiness of sons. Local level discussion of
such lyrics and the messages they convey should form part of any communication
initiative.
5. It is very important for health/family planning communication not to contradict what girl
child messages seek to convey to the people. Joint planning is essential for this purpose.
6. There is urgent need to embark on a massive nationwide sensitization and advocacy
campaign with specific focus on the importance of the girl child to reinforce the view that
she is an asset and not a burden. A key message would have to be that the nation values
girl children and welcomes their presence, and that the family and community must
accord them their rights and entitlements. The campaign would need to be multi pronged
involving the services of multi media as well other community and peer advocacy groups
(such as spiritual leaders, parliamentarians,) specifically designed for different sections of
society.
At present a variety of communication and promotion channels are available which could be
utilized these include:
(a) Mass media services of the Government :
• Conscious and intensive use of radio services (AIR), with interactive linkage to
ground-level communicators, and feedback and Q & A connections to radio stations;
• Planned use of song and drama services involving both I&B performers and local
talent; low-cost publications and locally relevant posters (could be made locally);
planned use of short films as “triggers” to generate local discussion;
• Field-based capacity-building
(b) Use of outreach infrastructures and services operating in the field
(c) Tapping into local communication systems and practitioners
(d) Informing, persuading and mobilising local / PRI leadership
(e) Tapping the outreach and communication capability of the NYKS (300,000 rural youth
clubs) could contribute significantly to strengthening local advocacy for girl children
• NYKS programmes could not only communicate positive messages, but also
exemplify equal opportunities for girls, and provide evidence of how girl children can
contribute to their communities as young citizens; Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
26
• the proposed extension of NYKS membership and services to include the 10-15 age
group could provide a valuable new setting for girl children to enjoy development
support and learning opportunities, and the NYKS
(f) Use of the country’s postal services network as a key outreach mechanism and resource,
and the post office as a local information hub or resource point. Operating through
155,000 post offices across the country, the network holds promise for communication on
the girl child. They have an unparalleled reach and connectivity of the network, and its
local reliability, with every postman providing a connection to the community, and 89 per
cent of post offices in rural locations. It should be used as a major channel to reach out to
homes in the remotest rural areas. The postal system holds matching potential as the
repository of the proposed cash transfer credit scheme benefiting girl children.
Conclusion
The nation cannot afford to ignore the needs of the girl child any further, discriminate against
her or just relegate her existence to the stereotyped role of a wife, mother or sister. She needs
to be recognized as the ‘woman of the future’ and a productive citizen of the country entitled
to all the fruits of social and economic progress on an equal footing with her male
counterparts. Thus the thrust, approach and action in the Eleventh Plan (2007-11) will need to
be geared to usher in a new era for the girl child - one of respect, dignity, equality so that she
can emerge as a fully empowered citizen of the country and contribute to it’s progress and
prosperity. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
27
Annexure A
CONDITIONAL CASH AND NON CASH TRANSFER WITH INSURANCE
COVER
A Concept Note
INTRODUCTION
Conditional cash transfers are a departure from more traditional approaches to social
assistance that represents an innovative and increasingly popular channel for the delivery
of social services. Conditional cash transfers provide money to poor families contingent
upon certain behaviour or action, usually investments in human capital such as sending
children to school or bringing them to health centers on a regular basis. They seek both to
address traditional short-term income support objectives and promote the longer-term
accumulation of human capital by serving as a demand-side complement to the supply of
health and education services.
Conditional Cash Transfers have been implemented in countries such as Nicaragua,
Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Mexico. There is clear evidence of success from the first
generation of programmes in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua in increasing
enrolment rates, improving preventive healthcare and raising household consumption.
Further, evaluation results reveal that this innovative design, relying on a strong
monitoring framework, has been quite successful in addressing many of the failures in
delivering social assistance such as poor poverty targeting, disincentive effects and
limited welfare impacts.
Cash transfers can thus be an effective way of targeting resources to the poor and socially
excluded and to help keep children in school and to use health services. While
Government will provide free services such as education, primary health facilities and
immunization, the poor and socially excluded may continue to be still excluded because
of many other barriers to access these services such as the costs of transport, medicines,
uniforms and textbooks; discrimination against girls and other socially excluded groups;
the loss of income from children attending school rather than working; and lack of
knowledge of the value of education and preventive healthcare.
One way to overcome these barriers is conditional cash transfers which can address all of
these demand-side barriers, especially if school attendance and/or use of preventive
health services are conditions of payment.
International Experiences
Studies from various countries and in various contexts reflect a positive impact of
conditional cash flow transfers in middle and low income countries. Examples are Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
28
Brazil’s “Bolsa Familia” - a national programme that transfers US$16-19 a month to an
estimated 5 million families at a cost of 0.15 percent of their GDP. The Conditional Cash
Transfer is provided on the conditionality that a minimum school attendance of 85
percent be ensured for children between 6 and 15 years and under Secondary School
stipend programme school fees and incentive payments are directly paid into bank
accounts on the condition that the child remaining unmarried and has passed school
exams. Compliance with required health visits per year for children under the age of 7
and pregnant and lactating women are also laid down. In Chile, the beneficiaries have to
sign a contract on the specific tasks conducive to the achievement of the minimum
conditions of quality of life as identified with social worker. In Colombia each
beneficiary receives a cash transfer based on the condition that their school age children
attend school regularly and their younger children attend regular health visits. In
Nicaragua, the conditions laid down are education of school enrollment with less than six
days of unexcused school absence in a two-month period and school grade promotion ;
health: regular health care visits for child’s growth monitoring; up-to-date vaccinations;
and attendance of health and nutrition training.
In a typical conditional cash transfers, poor mothers received cash conditional on their
promoting certain activities on behalf of their children. For the youngest children below 6
years –the conditionality involved visits to preventive health care centers where their
growth was monitored; school attendance was conditional for receiving grants for older
children of 7-17 years.
The analysis showed that in Colombia in 2002, indicators like school attendance, child
nutrition health, status and household consumption were influenced positively. The
impact of conditional cash transfers on human development outcomes was reviewed on
“PROGRESSA” in Mexico which showed that the basic objective of the Mexican
government was to provide households with cash to enable parents to meet the basic
requirements for their children in health, nutrition education etc. Between 1997 and 2000,
the scheme enrolled 2.6 million households from 50,000 rural villages and 2 million
urban families. Eligibility was decided on the basis of the poverty index. Cash transfers
amounting to a third of the household income were made to the female head of the
household of which 70 percent was spent on better food. However, in order to get the
money, the children had to attend school and family members attend health clinics and
hygiene education programmes.
The evaluation showed that the program had an impact on the children’s health and the
number of reported illness decreased by 25 percent with the reduction increasing with
longer the duration of the programme. The two measures used to measure health impact
were anemia and height and this showed that the former decreased by 13 percent and
after 12-18 months of the programme the latter also showed a positive increase.
CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER AND INDIA (along with non cash transfers) Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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Objective
The girl child is the most vulnerable member of the society in India. The life chart of a
disadvantaged girl child reflects the strong element of discrimination at every step of her
life – feticide; infanticide; little or no access to education; health or other services; abuse
particularly sexual abuse, domestic labour, trafficking for commercial sexual
exploitation, child marriage, early motherhood, frequent pregnancy and delivery etc.
A significant reason for the above situation of the girl child is diversion of limited funds
and facilities towards the male child in a family as he has a much more important status
in the familial hierarchy. This discrimination arises mainly on account of the perceptions
of society towards a girl child, viewing her as a burden and not as an asset - a factor that
would also cause them to abort the female fetus.
This is especially true in the case of less economically well off families where poverty is
a huge constraint that stands in their way to raise and educate their children. Thus given a
limited resource basket, these families would rather opt for a son than a daughter. In
order to enable them to consciously retain their daughters, they would require financial
incentives and other non cash assistance
Though a large number of schemes and programmes for reducing poverty, and for the
welfare of women and children and disadvantaged groups exist such as scholarships for
children, free immunization, supplementary nutrition, poverty alleviation programs etc., it
has not been successful in addressing the specific needs of girls or improving their well
being or their status in society. It is also seen that many times, more than the services,
the family prefer cash, which gives them some independence of choosing the service and
also spreading part of the benefit to other family members.
It is with this intention that an innovative scheme of ‘Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme
(along with certain elements of non cash transfers) is proposed, wherein cash and non
cash transfers will be provided to the family of the girl child (preferably the mother) on
fulfilling certain conditionalities, for the girl child - such as birth and registration of the
girl child; immunization; enrollment to school; retention in school; and delaying the
marriage age beyond 18 years. This will be in addition to the various incentives, which
already exist for girl child given by the Centre and the States.
The objective of the Scheme is two fold – the direct and tangible objective is to provide a
set of staggered financial incentives for families to encourage them to retain the girl child
and educate her etc; the more subtle and intangible objective is to change the attitudinal
mindset of the family towards the girl - by linking cash and non cash transfers to her well
being. This will force the families to look upon the girl as an asset rather then a liability
since her very existence has led to cash inflow to the family.
Target Group Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
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A pilot project may be started in ten Districts in the Country, and within each district one
block will be selected. Two blocks each from North, South, East, West and North-East
can be selected on the basis of the following criteria: -
• The selected blocks will be in the most backward areas, preferably educationally
backward districts; however a readiness assessment should show that the selected
districts have a minimum level of infrastructure to be able to participate
meaningfully in the pilot.
• Within the selected blocks, all girl children under the age of 18 will be part of the
pilot.
The pilot project will be implemented for five years with regular monitoring and
evaluation. It is hoped that the five years will provide enough time for the project to be
implemented and show desired results. At the end of five years, an evaluation will be
conducted to access the effectiveness of the project and scope for up-scaling of the pilot
to other parts of the country. Thus the proposed pilot project will be an innovative project
which is exploratory and experimental in nature.
Modalities
It is proposed that the identified girl will receive a certain amount of cash on completion
of a task or action. The cash will be given to the mother to ensure that it is properly
utilized for her child’s well being. In addition, as additional incentive to the family, the
cash transfer will be linked to other non-cash benefits.
To make it attractive, it is proposed that among the transfers, there will be two cash
transfers which will be substantial and will take place at the time of birth of the girl child
and at completion of 18 years. The last transfer will be made in the name of the girl that
she can utilize the amount in a way she would like.
The cash transfers will be based on certain conditions, which need to be met by the
family. The proposed action points for which the conditional cash transfer will be given
are:
• At birth and registration of birth
• On progress of immunization (6 monthly transfer )
• On completion of full immunization
• On enrollment to school
• On completing primary education - (quarterly payments)
• On completing elementary education – (quarterly payments)
At the level of secondary school stage, the girl may be given a choice to either
study further or join any Government recognized vocational training course, -
(yearly transfer) till the secondary school/ vocational training is completed.
• At the age of 18 years if the girl is still unmarried, then a lump sum will be
transferred to the girl directly. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
31
Sub component of insurance cover for the girl child
In addition to the above, it is also proposed that an insurance cover will be provided for
the girl child as a safety net and also to enable the girl to receive a lump sum at the age
of 18 years. It is proposed that a minimum of Rs.10000 will be taken as the insurance
cover in the name of the girl child with suitable arrangements with LIC and the
premiums reimbursed by the Ministry under the aegis of the CCT.
Implementation
The MWCD will be the nodal Ministry for this scheme. However the pilot project will
need to be implemented in collaboration with State Governments by identifying specific
functionaries known as the ‘ verification authorities’ which may include Anganwadi
workers, Gender coordinators of education, Village Education Committee, Principals of
schools, Asha worker etc. If thought necessary, a coordination agency/ agencies,
preferably community based such as PRIs, NGOs/ Mahila Samhkya/ local self help
groups etc, can be identified to oversee the implementations in each of the blocks. The
method of disbursements is suggested as follows:
• The State Government/district authority will disburse the amount to Nationalized
Bank or Post Office in the block
• It is proposed that the moment a girl child is born and registered, the mother will be
eligible to open an account in a Nationalized Bank or Post Office. In case, the child
does not have a mother, then the account will be opened in the name of the father.
She will also be issued a report card/monitoring card (the possibility of a card on the
lines of the ‘Mother and Child card used in the anganwadis can be explored)
• On completion of each item of conditionality and on the verification of the same by
the designated relevant ‘verification authority ‘the mother/father can produce the
card to the Nationalized Bank/Post Office and the sanctioned amount will
immediately be transferred to the account.
• The pilot project may be given wide publicity through mass media. Efforts will be
made to use information technology to the maximum.
Monitoring mechanism
• At the block/ village level, community based organizations such as PRIs , NGOs/
Mahila Samhkya/ local self help groups can become the monitoring authorities and
also a forum for appeal / follow up or extending an helping hand . The district
administration can form an inter-disciplinary committee to act a general supervisor of
the project and take a review every six months. To check malpractices or complaints,
existing helpline would be widely disseminated.
• At the State level as different line Ministries/Departments would be involved, a
Monitoring Committee may need to be set up under the secretary (WCD/Social
Welfare).
• As the successful implementation of a CCT scheme relies heavily on a strong
verification system, it is proposed to engage an independent agent for evaluation
/verification of compliance with the conditionalities. on an annual basis. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
32
Estimated fund requirement
A preliminary estimate based on block wise requirements has been attempted. The
average girl child population per block (as derived from the Census figures) for the 3
age groups viz 0-4, 5-9 and 10-17 years is estimated at approximately 38000 girl
children. The conditional cash transfers are to be given on completion of certain
conditionalites like birth, immunization, enrolment , retention in primary and elementary
school, entry into secondary school/ vocational training and completion of 18 years
without getting married.
Keeping in view that the attraction of cash amounts transferred is the key to the success
of the scheme, two scenarios of financial requirements have been estimated – one
keeping the minimum possible cash transfer; any further lowering of the amounts of the
transfers would not lead to any impact on outcomes. The other scenario has been
devised for enabling a perceptible impact on the outcomes. The Statement enclosed
gives the details of the different scenarios.
Minimum cash transfer scenario
Based on conditionality to be achieved at age each group, the most minimum staggered
/phased cash transfers that is felt absolutely necessary amounts to an average of about
Rs16,000 per girl child, spread over the 18 years, which comes to only about Rs.400 per
year per child . Taking into account each age group, the conditions to be fulfilled and the
corresponding cash transfer required for the same the expenditure per block per annum
works out to about Rs. 3.2 crores and for 10 blocks the projected requirements is
estimated at Rs. 32 crores per annum and Rs. 96 crore for the Eleventh Plan.
The Pilot project to be implemented for 3 years , 2007-2010. Thereafter depending on the
progress the project will be upgraded to a full fledged scheme with a wider spread.
However the insurance premium payments will continue as per the laid down schedule
as this cannot be terminated before its full course.
As the basic objective of the scheme is to ensure that the girl child is allowed to be born
and that she remains unmarried up to the age of 18 years, (provided of course that she
continues to remain in the school system) two major cash transfers have been proposed
which account for a major chunk of the total expenditure- Rs. 1500 at the birth of the girl
child and Rs. 5000 at the age of 18 , which is about 40% of the total amount to be
disbursed to the girl child.
Alternative scenario to ensure Perceptible outcome impact scenario
In order to enable perceptible outcomes it is necessary that the cash transfers are
substantial and attractive. This would require higher amounts of transfer than that
envisaged in the earlier scenario .In the second scenario the average amount transferred
per girl child is Rs. 32000/ per annum which comes to about Rs. 6.4 crores per block per Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
33
annum or Rs. 64 crore for 10 blocks or Rs. 190 crore for the Eleventh Five Year
plan(2007-2010). The amount of Rs. 32000/ per girl child is spread over 18 years and
hence the average expenditure per girl child is Rs.1800 per annum. About 40% of the
expenditure per girl child is on transferred at the time of birth and when she is 18 years
old.
The Pilot project to be implemented for 3 years , 2007-2010. Thereafter depending on the
progress the project will be upgraded to a full fledged scheme with a wider spread.
However the insurance premium payments will continue as per the laid down schedule
as this cannot be terminated before its full course.
The above is a highly tentative assessment of the requirements of funds for the scheme
based on the assumption that all girl children in the blocks will avail of the transfers, will
complete their schooling and remain unmarried till the age of 18 years. Also, the
estimates covers all girl children of the block and are not limited to any particular section.
It is suggested that a core group may be set up to work out the details of the scheme,
identify the blocks in different regions, number of beneficiaries, and the financial
requirements, the mode of disbursements and mechanism for implementation for service
delivery and monitoring
Sl. Scenario 1 Scenario 2
No.
Condition
No. of Girl
Children per
block
Cash
Transfer per
child (Rs)
Total Cash
Transfer (Rs)
(Col. 3*Col 4)
Cash
Transfer
per child
(Rs)
Total Cash
Transfer
(Rs.) (Col. 3*
Col. 6)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1
At Birth and Registration of
Birth 1960 1,500 2,940,000 3,000 5,880,000
2 Immunization
6 weeks 1960 50 98,000 100 196,000
14 weeks 1960 50 98,000 100 196,000
9 months 1960 50 98,000 100 196,000
16 months 1960 50 98,000 100 196,000
24 months 1960 50 98,000 100 196,000
On completion of
Immunization 1960
3 Education
a On enrolment 2300 1,000 2,300,000 2,000 4,600,000
class 1 + 85 % attendance 2300 300 690,000 600 1,380,000
class 2 + 85 % attendance 2300 300 690,000 600 1,380,000
class 3 + 85 % attendance 2300 300 690,000 600 1,380,000
class 4 + 85 % attendance 2300 300 690,000 600 1,380,000
class 5 + 85 % attendance 2000 300 600,000 600 1,200,000
b
On enrolment in secondary
school 2000 1,000 2,000,000 2,000 4,000,000
class 6 + 85 % attendance 2000 400 800,000 800 1,600,000
class 7 + 85 % attendance 2000 400 800,000 800 1,600,000Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
34
class 8 + 85 % attendance 2000 400 800,000 800 1,600,000
class 9 + 85 % attendance 2000 400 800,000 800 1,600,000
class 10 + 85 %
attendance 2000 400 800,000 800 1,600,000
c
On completion of
Secondary school 2000 1,000 2,000,000 2,000 4,000,000
d
class 11/voc.training + 85
% attendance 2000 1,200 2,400,000 2,400 4,800,000
e
class 12/voc. training + 85
% attendance 2000 1,200 2,400,000 2,400 4,800,000
f
On completion of 12 years
of education/vocational
training and remaining
unmarried 2000 5,000 10,000,000 10,000 20,000,000
Total 47,220 15,650 31,890,000 31,300 63,780,000Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
35
Annexure ‘B’
Proposed Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent
Girls
Objectives:
(i) To empower the adolescent girls and build their self esteem.
(ii) To promote awareness of health, hygiene, nutrition and family welfare, home
management and child care.
(iii) To improve health and nutrition status of the adolescent girls.
(iv) To help them understand health and nutrition safeguards and good health and
nutrition practices; to educate them about sexuality, protective sexual behaviour and
reproductive health.
(v) To provide them learning and discussion opportunities and access to information,
along with some employment related skills.
(vi) To promote, in the community an environment supportive to the attainment of the
above goals.
Target Group: Adolescent girls in the age group 11-18
(i) Inclusion of life skills, health and nutrition education in the regular curriculum:
(The Department of Elementary education would be requested to take action on
this).
(ii) Regular health check-up of all girls once a quarter by the Medical Officers.
{Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to take up this activity}.
(iii) Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) and de-worming interventions (Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare to take up this activity).
(iv) All adolescent girls who are in the age-group 11-14 years should be registered at
their village anganwadis. Their growth would be monitored at the anganwadi. The
Anganwadi would prepare a growth-monitoring chart for each girl. Each adolescent
girl would be weighed once a quarter. If she falls in the malnourished category, then
she would be eligible for supplementary nutrition (equivalent to 550 cals and 20
gms of proteins).
(v) All malnourished girls would get Ready to Eat ration at the anganwadi. The
anganwadi worker would distribute the requirement of 15 days at a time. If the girl
crosses the malnourishment threshold then the supply of supplementary nutrition
would be after one month.
(vi) The girls would be given vocational training during vacations at the anganwadi
center. This training would be given either by trainers. During this time they could
also be given life skill education and practical demonstrations. It should be ensured
that each girl undergoes this training once in three years. This training should be
organized for a group of 20 girls. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
36
Interventions for the girls who do not attend school:
(i) Non-formal education-bridge courses- to be organized by the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education.
(ii) All adolescent girls who are in the age-group 11-14 years should be registered at
their village anganwadis. Their growth would be monitored at the anganwadi. The
Anganwadi would prepare a growth-monitoring chart for each girl. Each adolescent
girl would be weighed once a quarter. If she falls in the malnourished category, then
she would be eligible for supplementary nutrition (equivalent to 550 cals and 20
gms of proteins).
(iii) All malnourished girls would get Ready to Eat ration at the anganwadi. The
anganwadi worker would distribute the requirement of 15 days at a time. If the girl
crosses the malnourishment threshold then the supply of supplementary nutrition
would after one month.
(iv) All these would be organized into Balika mandals, and girl to girl approach would
be followed for vocational training. Three selected girls would be given intensive
vocational training at Block/District level. These girls would in turn train the other
members of the Balika Mandal. Each girl would be given a 30 days vocational
training, once in three years. If the number of non-school going girls, attached to an
anganwadi exceeds 30, then two Balika Mandals may be constituted for a period
of six months in a year.
(v) The State Govts would evolve a system of recognition of the trainer girls as well as
the trainee girls.
(vi) The Balika would also be imparted life skills, home management, childcare,
hygeine and health and nutrition education. The Supervisors/ANM/AWW could
impart this training. Even girl-to-girl approach may be followed.
(vii) The Balika mandals should become the centre of activities of the Nehru Yuvati
Kendras.
(viii) Regular health check-up of all girls once a quarter by the Medical Officers.
{Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to take up this activity}.
(ix) IFA and de-worming interventions (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to take
up this activity).
A program approach: At present different Ministries have various interventions for the
adolescent girls, in order to achieve better results a program approach would be adopted.
A Steering Committee needs to constitute at the National level in order to coordinate the
efforts of the Ministries/Departments.
Similar Committees would be constituted at the State Levels. There shall be a committee
at the District level under the Chairmanship of Collector. All these committees would
ensure that all the interventions of different departments are implemented in a
coordinated fashion. They would also monitor the outcomes of all these interventions.
The outcomes to be measured would be Drop out rates, prevalence of malnutrition,
incidents of early child marriage, cases of exploitation of adolescent girls, low birth
weights etc. Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
37
Community involvement and awareness generation: This will one of the important
components of the scheme. Unless the outdated beliefs and customs, which go against
girl child, are changed it would be difficult to achieve improvement in the nutritional
status of the girl child. This would be achieved by involving the panchayats in improving
the awareness levels of the community. Also the community will be involved in the
supervision of the programme. Sensitization programmes for the parents and the
panchayat members would be taken up.
Research and creation of database: Growth monitoring charts similar to the ones used
for child growth monitoring would be developed for adolescent girls. ICMR would be
requested to take up this assignment. Besides a database about adolescents and the
problems confronting them would be developed.
Role of panchayats: PRIs would be involved in supervising the implementation of the
programme. PRIs are expected to provide funds for activities of the Balika Mandals.
Additional Honararia to the AWC: Because of the increased workload the AWW and
the AWH would be provided an additional honoraria of Rs 300 and Rs 150 p.m.
respectively.
******** Working Group on Development of Children for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012)- A Report
38
Annexure ‘C’
Members of the Sub-Group on Girl Child:
1. Smt. Manjula Krishnan, Economic Adviser, MWCD - Chairperson
2. Representative of D/o Elementary Education and Literacy, Shastri Bhawan, New
Delhi
3. Representative of D/o Secondary and Higher Education, Shastri Bhawan, New
Delhi
4. Representative of M/o Social Justice and Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, New
Delhi
5. Representative of M/o Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
6. Representative of M/o Information and Broadcasting, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
7. Representative of Planning Commission
8. Secretary, Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development, Govt.
of Punjab
9. Commissioner & Secretary Women and Child Development Department
Directorate, Govt. of Haryana
10. Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Govt. of Delhi
11. Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
12. Secretary, Social Welfare & Nutrition Department, Govt. of Tamil Nadu
13. Secretary, Women Development and Child Development Welfare Department,
Govt. of A.P., Secretariat, Andhra Pradesh
14. Dr. Vinod Paul, All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi
15. Ms. Razia Ismail Abbasi, IACR, New Delhi
16. Ms. Jaya Srivastava, Former Director ANKUR
17. Ms. Meenakshi Shukla, 1834 Chetna, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
18. Ms. Sehba Hussain, Beti Foundation, Lucknow
19. Ms. Sulochan Vasudevan, National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child
Development
20. Dr. Bhaswati Das, CSD, Delhi – Special Invitee
21. Smt. Nandita Mishra, Dy. EA, MWCD
Co-opted Members:
1. Dr. Manju Agrawal, Professor & HOD Behaviour & Allied Sciences, Lucknow
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