Protection and Welfare of Girl Child

Introduction  India is home to the largest child population in the world. The girl child is the most vulnerable member of the Indian society.  The Constitution of India through the Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles protects the rights of children and directs the State to ensure that the children are protected from abuse, and are provided early childhood care and education.

Introduction  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  The GoI in the XIth and XIIth Plan emphasized the importance of ensuring right to life and liberty to all girl children, and upholding their dignity and security in family and society, with utmost attention to their right to equality and social justice.

Introduction  GOI and the State Governments are committed to ensure the protection and welfare of girl child through enactment of various legislations as  Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994  Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000  The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and  Implementation of various welfare schemes like Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), SABLA, Kishori Shakti, Vidyalaxmi Scheme, Saraswati Shadhana Yojana and Palak Mata-Pita Scheme, etc.

Introduction  As per census data of 2011, the female child sex ratio in the State was 875.  There were 1.04 crore girls in the age group of 0-18 years as against 1.18 crore boys in the same age group in the State and girls population in the State was 17 per cent of the total State population (6.04 crore).  The State is also having low child sex ratio of 886 in the age group of 0-6 years, which is ninth lowest in India as per 2011 Census.

Audit objectives  The planning was made for identification of girl child in need of care and protection, and adequate financial resources were provided for implementation of various Acts/Schemes;  The girl child’s right to birth was secured and mindset of people towards girl child got changed for maintaining a healthy gender balance in society;  An adequate institutional/non-institutional services were provided to all needy girl children to make them responsible individual;  The girl child was protected from harmful traditional practices like child marriage and other retrograde social practices and exploitation; and  An appropriate monitoring mechanism was in place to ensure effective implementation of various Acts and Schemes for protection and welfare of girl child.

Conclusion and recommendations  State Child Protection Society had not formulated the State Child Protection policy and State Plan of Action as envisaged in National Plan of Action for Children,  There were cases of 216 abandoned girl child found dead in the State during due to cradle baby reception centres not functioning properly.  Children’s Homes in the State was found under-utilised as the overall percentage of utilisation of sanctioned capacity decreased to 43 per cent ( ) from 56 per cent ( ).  State Government had not made any specific child budgeting and no specific budgetary allocation was made for effective implementation of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and Beti Vadhaaao Abhiyan.  The funds provided under various welfare schemes were not fully utilised during Financial assistance was not provided to many beneficiaries under various schemes

Conclusions  As per Census 2011, the trend of all age sex ratio of the State had declined (from 920 to 919) though All-India ratio had improved (from 933 to 943) as compared to Census  Audit observed that sex ratio at birth in 15 out of 26 districts in the State declined in 2013 as compared to 2012, which could be due to poor implementation of PCPNDT Act.  The conviction ratio of court cases registered under the PCPNDT Act was found very low.  There was shortfall in conducting sting operations and inspection of clinics by district Appropriate Authorities.

Conclusions  Audit observed that two Children’s Homes were running without registration in test-checked districts.  Though provided in Juvenile Justice Rules, no separate Children’s Homes were established for age group of 7-11 and years.  During joint field visits of seven Children’s Homes, Audit observed poor infrastructural facilities, non-providing of adequate clothes as per norms, and accommodating mentally retarded girls along with normal girls, as well as cases of girls running away from them, etc.

Conclusions  Vacancy in the post of Child Marriage Prohibition Officer in 17 districts adversely affected the investigation and reporting of Child Marriage cases.  The distribution of bicycles to the girls under Saraswati Shadhana Yojana was delayed.  There was huge shortfall in number of meetings required to be held by State Supervisory Board resulting in inefficient monitoring of implementation of PCPNDT Act.  The Selection Committee for appointment of members of Justice Juvenile Boards (JJB) and Child Welfare Committees (CWC) was not constituted as a result of which the JJBs and CWCs were not reconstituted though their tenure of three years expired between 2010 and 2012.

Recommendations  For effective implementation of legislation, schemes for child protection and achievement of goals as envisaged in National Plan of Action for Children, 2005, the State Government should formulate comprehensive State Child Protection Policy and State Plan of Action  The State Government should ensure adequate child budgeting for effective awareness campaigning and implementation of various Acts and Schemes related to protection and welfare of girl child.  Effective utilisation of funds provided to implementing agencies should also be ensured as Audit observed that funds provided were lying unspent;

Recommendations  State Government should ensure that the financial assistance reached all eligible beneficiaries of the State in time as Audit observed instances of delay and non- payment of financial assistance to beneficiaries under various schemes.  Also, many districts are not being covered under various component of ICPS, therefore, the schemes for girl children need to be implemented in all the districts of the State.  The concerned authorities need to undertake rigorous inspection of clinics and decoy operations in the State to prevent illegal sex determination as it was observed that there was huge gap between antenatal cases registered and delivery cases reported, and prescribed inspections and decoy operations were not carried out by the district appropriate authorities;

Recommendations  Child marriage prohibition officers should be appointed in every district instead of assigning additional charge to District Social Defence Officer, as Audit observed that implementation of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act was adversely affected due to non- investigation of child marriage complaints and non-reporting of child marriages in the State.  The State Government should strengthen monitoring mechanism for effective implementation of Acts and Schemes for protection and welfare of girl children by ensuring regular meetings of committee and boards at the State and district level. The guidelines for such mechanisms exist; what needs to be done is their implementation in letter and spirit.