BHUBANESWAR: Even as Odisha is among three large states where the sex ratio at birth (SRB) has declined when it showed improvement at the national level, the utilisation of funds by the State has been abysmally low, Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Replying to an unstarred question by Rajya Sabha member Mamata Mahanta, Irani said the SRB has been set as a monitoring parameter for the progress of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme, which was launched in 2015-16 to address the issue of decline in child sex ratio and create an enabling environment for education of the girl child.
As per the Health Management Information System (HMIS) of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, while the SRB has improved by 16 points at national level from 918 in 2014-15 to 934 in 2019-20, it has declined by 10 points in Odisha from 948 to 938 during the period.
The SRB has also declined in two other large states, Bihar and Karnataka, by 19 and eight points.
The declining trend has also been witnessed in Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The Union Minister said 15 districts of Odisha have been identified for multi-sectoral interventions under the BBBP scheme.
The districts included Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Angul, Ganjam, Cuttack, Khurda, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Sambalpur Kendrapara, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Bhadrak, Balasore and Kalahandi.
As per the evaluation report of NITI Aayog, the scheme has been able to generate significant mass-mobilisation to eliminate gender discrimination and valuing the girl child, she said.
Even as the scheme has been able to develop many good practices and community-level initiatives, despite the declining ratio, Odisha has failed to utilise the funds received in last five years. Around Rs 3.46 crore is lying unutilised by the end of January.
She said consistent efforts need to be made at all levels to generate awareness about the rights of girl child through community engagement, stopping sex selection at birth and encourage positive action to support their education growth and development.
The Minister called for convergent efforts to be made in collaboration with other Ministries and stakeholders. The implementation of the scheme is monitored by the task force under BBBP at district, State and national level, she added.