Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao—The new campaign flagged across nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, have raised so many questions in my mind. The slogan asks for a girl to be saved right in the womb—Beti Bachao it says—but from whom— does she only need to be saved to be given birth-but once she is born, is there somebody who will care for her security?
I mean there are so many predators—from eve teasers, molesters, rapists—from dowry hungry in-laws—from those who have ogling eyes—who make people believe that there is no security of girls around. Also there are many evil-eyed people who ensure that their ego doesn’t get smashed with the success of working women.
Hence, if we bring in a campaign for a girl to be saved right in the womb, we need to ensure a safe society for her in future too as their parents are all the more scared to promise the same to her—a healthy environment where she can grow amid security with peace, where she is treated equal to their male counterparts. Let her be given the same freedom, in whatever she does, in whatever she wears, no matter where she goes and what her profession is.
Once we look around, we see numerous stories emanating from different corners which reveal how females are still unsafe in their peripheries. See the number of females across the world who recently joined #metoo campaign, to share their trauma of being victims of sexual assault sometime in their life. They are all successful ladies who have faced challenges to come out strong and successful. But not all females are strong. Some give up in between by preferring to remain confined within four walls of their house while others keep battling till they come out strong.
Looking at gloomy environs around, the hapless parents in rural India are scared to bring up their girl child as they are scared listening to horror stories of Nirbhaya. They have also read and heard stories of how small girls, who are toddlers, are raped brutally.
So shouldn’t we expand the slogan-we need Beti Bachao, but we also need Beti Bachao campaign which ensures that our daughters are saved from rapists, molesters, from eve teasers and from any such person who takes girl as commodity or a puppet who will dance on their orders.
Let’s have a better Beti Bachao campaign which promises a 360 degree security to girls in India.