Better sex ratio not due to 'Beti Bachao' scheme: Congress

Congress MP Sushmita Dev on Wednesday flayed the government, saying there is nothing to prove that the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme is the cause of improvement in the sex ratio in the country. Dev stated that during the last Parliament session, the Women and Child Development Ministry had said that it has not conducted any impact assessment of the scheme and is solely relying on the Health Management Information System (HMIS) data for improvement in sex ratio.

The Ministry was replying to a question whether the scheme has failed due to lack of policy implementation and diversion of funds. "The 'happy outcome' of the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' scheme, as claimed by the Minister (Maneka Gandhi) in the official statement on Tuesday, is in direct contradiction with what the government claimed in the Lok Sabha," she said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the WCD Ministry issued a clarification in response to a report which stated that the government has spent over 56 per cent of the funds allocated under the BBBP scheme from 2014-15 to 2018-19 on "media-related activities".