`Beti Bachao Beti Padhao` to extend to 61 more districts

New Delhi: The government decided to extend the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme to 61 more districts this year to improve the skewed child sex ratio.

The programme was launched in 100 districts with poor sex ratio across the country in January last year.

A senior official of the Women and Child Development Ministry said more than 50 percent of the districts showed improvement during initial months of launch of the scheme. He said that it is due to the success of the scheme that for the first time in 10 years, Haryana's sex ratio at birth for December 2015 has crossed the 900 mark with 903 girls per 1,000 boys.

Through the programme, the government seeks to improve the declining trend of child sex ratio in 100 selected districts from every state and Union Territory from the current level of 918, by preventing gender-based sex selection and ensuring survival, protection and education of a girl child.

Meanwhile, President Pranab Mukherjee will host a lunch for 100 women achievers today at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the occasion of first anniversary of `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao` scheme. These women achievers were selected by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with Facebook through a nationwide contest and public nominations.