MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI KRISHNA TIRATH)
(a) to (c): No, Madam. To change the perception and mind sets of the society towards
the girl child and to establish that she is also a productive member of the family,
Government of India has introduced a pilot Scheme, “Dhanalakshmi - Conditional Cash
Transfer for Girl Childâ€.Besides, a number of States are also implementing their own
Schemes to empower the girl child.
Dhanalaskhmi Scheme has been launched on 3rd March, 2008 in 11 Blocks of 7 States
as detailed below: -
State District Block
Andhra Pradesh Khammam Warangal Aswaraopeta Narsampet
Chattisgarh Bastar Bijapur Jagdalpur Bhopalpattnam
Orissa Malkangiri Koraput Kalimela Semiliguda
Jharkhand Giridih Kodarma Tisri Markachor
Bihar Jamoi Sono
Uttar Pradesh Rae Bareilly Shivgarh
Punjab Fatehgarh Sahib Sirhind
The Scheme provides for cash transfers to the family of the girl child (preferably
the mother) on fulfilling certain specific conditionalities for the girl child.
The Scheme is being implemented by the State Government through district
authorities. The Ministry is monitoring implementation of the scheme thorough review
meetings with the States. Since the scheme was launched on 03rd March 2008 on a pilot
basis, the impact of the scheme will be known after its evaluation.
In order to curb female foeticide and improve the sex ratio, Government has
adopted a multi-pronged strategy which includes legislative measures, advocacy,
awareness generation and programmes for socio-economic empowerment of women. The
legislative measures comprise of implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal
Diagnostic Technique (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994(PCPNDT), under which
sex selective abortions are punishable. The Government in the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare is responsible for implementation of this Act.
For advocacy and awareness generation and to create national awareness on issues
relating to girl child, Ministry of Women and Child Development has declared January
24 as the National Girl Child Day.
Besides, the Government of India has undertaken a number of initiatives for
socio-economic empowerment of women, such as Support to Training and Employment
Programme for Women (STEP), the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MGNREGA), National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and loans through the Rashtriya MahilaKosh.
