National Girl Child Day

By: Michelle S. Aulakh

“Girls should be given the wings to fly and not the pain to cry and die”

In 2008, the Ministry of women and child development initiated the “National Girl Child Day” which will be celebrated every year on the 24th of January. The reason why 24th January is chosen to be the National Girl Child Day is that, on this very same day in the year 1966, Indira Gandhi was sworn in to be the first female Prime Minister of India. This day is an important day in history and raises empowerment amongst women.

The main objective of the government is to raise awareness on the declining Child Sex Ration (CSR). Every year a theme is set for this day. The theme for the year 2020 was “My voice, our common future”, and for the year 2021 was “Digital generation, Our generation”. The theme for this year is “Empowering Girls for a Brighter Tomorrow”.

Many educational campaigns are initiated under the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' scheme. National Girl Child Day also marks the anniversary of this scheme.

Other than spreading awareness about the declining CSR, it also focuses on making the girls as well as the entire country aware of their rights and aware of all the discriminations they have to face in society. This day also focuses on spreading importance to subjects like equality, empowering women economically and socially, equal rights to have education, protection against any harassment or violence, and stopping child marriages.

Girls are meant to be the ray of hope and happiness in a family. An educated woman has the power to educate their entire family. So, on this national day for girl child lets come together and pledge to work towards the betterment of all the women and children out there and lets live in a society where in future there would be no need to take initiates and make schemes because the world would already be an equal and respectful place to live in.