National girl child day 2021: Education, Equality and Empowerment

What is the need?

There is decreasing sex ratio in India among the age group of 0-6 years which has created an imbalance. It is a significant indicator of women's disempowerment. It reflects both, pre-birth discrimination manifested through gender-based sex selection, and post-birth discrimination against girls. People prefer a boy over a girl child and kill the female fetuses during the early stages of pregnancy. Hence, there is a huge need to create awareness regarding the rights of the girl child as well as on the importance of girl education, their health, and nutrition.

Celebrated on:

• The National Girl Child Day is celebrated on January 24  in India every year.  
• The National Girl Child Week is observed from January 21st to January 26th. 
• This was initiated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India in 2008. 
• This also marks the anniversary of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme.

What are the objectives?

The objectives are as follows:

• To highlight the inequalities faced by girls in our country.
• To promote awareness about the rights of a girl child.
• To generate awareness on the importance of girl education, health, and nutrition.
• To generate awareness on the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and create a positive environment around valuing the girl child (objective in 2021)

Announcements by the governments:

• The state of Punjab has announced January 2021 to be the "month of Girl Child". The scheme Dheeiyan Di Lohri has also been launched. 
• The Odisha state government honors the individuals and organizations who have worked towards the cause of child marriage free villages on January 24 - the National Girl Child Day. 

References:

1. https://vikaspedia.in/social-welfare/women-and-child-development/child-development-1/girl-child-welfare/national-girl-child-day#:~:text=The%20state%20of%20Punjab%20has,the%20National%20Girl%20 Child%20Day.
2. https://entri.app/blog/national-girl-child-day/
3. https://es.123rf.com/photo_106364695_stock-vector-vector-illustration-of-happy-school-girl-go-to-school-welcome-back-to-school-cute-school-girl-with-b.html photo credit
4. https://www.pinterest.ru/pin/716072409486466876/ photo credit
5. https://www.en.etemaaddaily.com/world/national/national-girl-child-day-being-observed-today:54302 photo credit