A year before being elected the Member of Parliament from Bathinda, one of the first projects Harsimrat Badal undertook was to improve the skewed sex ratio in the State by launching a non-Governmental organisation — Nanhi Chhaan.But some six years later, the declining sex ratio in Bathinda has cast a shadow over Nanhi Chhaan project’s efficacy.
To make the matters worse, the off-centre sex ratio in her home constituency Bathinda is being seen not just as a gender scorecard, but also as a marksheet of her performance, especially when the sex ratio has witnessed an upward swing in the rest of the State during the past decade or so.Bathinda, the home constituency of the Badals, has emerged as the only district in the entire State witnessing a dip in the sex ratio with 868 females as compared to 1000 males in the district as per latest census data. The figure stood at 870 a decade back.
In contrast, Punjab improved from 874 in 2001 to 895 in 2011, against the national average of 940 females per 1,000 males, lagging far behind and finishing among the states at the bottom of the table.On the other hand, the child sex ratio, as per the 2011 Census, recorded a jump of 69 points from 785 female children per 1,000 male children to 854.
The figures assumes significance as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), in its manifesto released on Monday, has tried to cash in on Nanhi Chhan’s performance by promising to take it to the national level.“Female foeticide will continue to be fought on war footing through a mixture of social awareness and incentivisation of women empowerment and strict laws and their implementation,” read the manifesto with the SAD president and Harsimrat’s husband Sukhbir Badal on Monday declaring Nanhi Chhaan to go “national”. The main opposition in the State, the Congress party, has all along been targeting the ruling SAD for exploiting the cause for her political gains.
Harsimrat’s Nanhi Chhaan came under cloud after the death of 14-month-old girl Eknoor at Bathinda allegedly owing to inhuman and insensitive attitude of the State police authorities against the on-strike teachers. Congress questioned the silence of sitting MP and inability to take any action against the errant.
“An infant girl child was made to die in the home constituency of Harsimrat Badal, and nothing was done. No action...nothing. What is the point promoting Nanhi Chhaan across the State. This shows that this programme is nothing but a political gimmick for making electoral gains by raking up people’s sentiments,” a senior Congress leader, who did not wish to be named, told The Pioneer.
Congress has also questioned the State Government’s move to name one of the rotary as Nanhi Chhaan Chowk on the lines of the Nanhi Chhan campaign. The roundabout, funded by Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, has a life-size statue of hands holding a baby and a woman with a green landscape in the background.
As Harsimrat preach the message of “save the girl child” and treat them at par with their male counterparts, a visit to some of the villages in her constituency left you with no doubt about the current state of affairs as far as girl population is concerned.
“People celebrate the birth of a boy, and hang array of things above the entrance way to ward off the evils…they make merry all the year. But when a girl is born, they cry and be remorseful for that,” a resident of Baho Yatri village in Bathinda rural segment said. A look around is enough to assess the number of small girls in villages.