She is hopeful that this scheme will change people’s attitude towards female children. They will be considered as assets not burdens. Reuters reports:
The government will pay 15,500 rupees ($385) to poor families in phases, with a lump sum of 100,000 rupees when the girl reaches the age of 18, provided she meets criteria including education, immunisation and nutrition, and she is not married.
"We will start the project shortly," Chowdhury said, adding that it would be rolled out in seven states where girls face the most acute discrimination.
"We think this will force the families to look upon the girl as an asset rather than a liability and will certainly help us save the girl child."
Next year, the government is going to bring in 100,000 girls under this scheme. The project is going to cost $2.5 million.
However, many people are not so hopeful about this project. The problem is more acute than it seems. The ultrasound technology, which determines the child’s sex, is very cheap and many well-educated families, who are not poor, also destroy female fetuses for male child. With this monetary incentive, government may be able to convince the poor families but what about these rich families? In many wealthy Indian states, the male female children ratio is far worse.
Female feticide is a major problem in
What makes the matter worse is the poor implementation of laws regarding female feticide. Despite having strict laws against sex-selective abortion, only one doctor has been sentenced in the last twelve years. Abortion has become a big business for the doctors as well.
This is a very serious issue for
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