Ringing in change, government style

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:

1. High mortality rate among women in Jammu and Kashmir due to poor access to the healthcare and healthy food intake
2. 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.