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Ringing in change, government style
Context:
All government employees in Samba district of Jammu & Kashmir have been directed to download the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” ringtone on their Jio mobile numbers.
Details:
- The order came from the office of Deputy Commissioner on February 23, who demanded that a compliance report be filed within 24 hours.
- The government is in talks with Airtel and Vodafone for similar ringtones but the memo mentions only one service provider.
- According to the Deputy Commissioner, the decision had been taken to make the campaign message widespread, and to “put a thrust on having a girl child”.
- The ringtone has also been sung in local Dogri language
Major Gender-related Issues in Jammu and Kashmir:
- High mortality rate among women in Jammu and Kashmir due to poor access to the healthcare and healthy food intake
- Growing incidences of female foeticide and poor mechanism to stop sex determination in advance
Way ahead:
- Downloading ringtones may help in sensitisation to some extent
- However, the real solution lies by working on the causes leading to the skewed male-female ratio. Government intervention is needed to tackle the major issues
Additional Information:
“Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” Programme:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched “Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” (Save girl child-Educate girl child) campaign in January 2015 to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) in India.
Sex Ratio in India:
- As per the 2011 census, the adult sex ratio in India is 940 females for every 1000 males.
- The child sex ratio (of children between the ages 0 and 6 years) is far worse at 914 females for every 1000 males.
- Figures for Jammu and Kashmir are well below the national average with only 883 females for every 1000 males.