Lady cop claims Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao her slogan, 'Centre stole it'

Inspector Chetna Bhati, SHO Mahila Thana, Udaipur, claimed she had coined the phrase in 1999.

JAISALMER: A woman police officer in Rajasthan's Udaipur has claimed the phrase 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao', which became popular after Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year launched a campaign for education of the girl child with this name, was her creation and the Centre "stole it".

Inspector Chetna Bhati, SHO Mahila Thana, Udaipur, claimed she had coined the phrase in 1999 as part of a poem and written to the office of the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot on August 3, 2012 to get it unveiled and used for public campaign.

But the CMO did not respond and now the slogan has appeared in the national campaign, she said. 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' (BBBP) campaign was launched by the Prime Minister on January 22 last year from Panipat and it seeks to address the problems of skewed child sex ratio, girl education and other issues of women empowerment.

She said she filed an RTI query in December last to the PMO asking from where the government pciked up this slogan. She said she received reply from the Women and Child Development Ministry (BBBP unit) on February 3 this year but the response "was not satisfactory".

Bhati has now written to the Prime Minister claiming that the slogan was coined by her and sought recognition for her creativity.

"At a programme in Pali district in 2005, I even recited it. My parents took special care of us and made us study. My elder sister is a teacher and I am in police service. I very well understand the value of a girl child and wrote poetry against female foeticide," she told PTI. Hailing from Jaisalmer district, infamous for cases of female foeticide, Bhati, who is in the police service for the past 20 years, claimed she wrote a poem against the menace in 1999 and coined the phrase Beti Bachao Beti Padhao'.

"I only want recognition, no money no publicity. Since I created this, I have ample evidence in support my claim which the government should take into consideration. The government should disclose that from where it took it," she said.