Save and cherish daughters

As a rule, when a government chooses a state to launch its campaign, it is a matter of pride for the state in question. However, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” scheme at Panipat, Haryana had little cause to cheer. The state with one of the worst sex ratios in the country needs to be ashamed of its track record. Of course, that does not take away the merit of the campaign that happens to be one of the most significant initiatives of the Modi government. The Prime Minister called it a mental illness that leads to the killing of unborn daughters.
Indeed, it is shocking that millions of daughters have gone missing as they have been denied the right to be born. Call it a national shame or national emergency, as the United Nations puts it, there is no denying the seriousness of the situation that sadly fails to get the attention it deserves. It is not as if the previous government was oblivious to the gravity of the gender imbalance which has far-reaching social implications. Cash incentive programmes, similar to the recently introduced Sukanya Samridhi Yojna, have been in place. The positive impact of these and other measures has been witnessed in some districts across the country and Jhajjar in Haryana.
The marginal improvements in sex ratios, however, should not make one gloss over the alarming reality. The initial focus of the new campaign on the 100 worst districts of the country is a good start, but by no means enough. Actually, no one step is sufficient to deal with the multi-dimensional problem that calls for both concerted efforts and innovative strategies. Considering the fate of the cases under the PCPNDT Act, can the out-of-the-box idea of legalising sex selection tests work? It's hard to say. Yet we need newer ways to shake the country out of the inertia and the insularity it has developed over the issue. Daughters have to be saved and cherished if the country has to hold its head high as a power to reckon with.