Haryana State PCS

• 27 Jan 2024

National Girl Child Day (NGCD)

Why in News?

National Girl Child Day (NGCD) is observed on 24^th January every year to shed light on the challenges faced by girls in Indian society.

• The day focuses on creating awareness about the inequalities girls encounter and advocates for equal opportunities in education, healthcare, and nutrition.

Key Points

• NGCD was established by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2008.
  • The initiative acknowledges the unique challenges faced by girls, including child marriage, and gender-based violence.
• NGCD commemorates the inaugural anniversary of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme (Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child) launched on January 22, 2015.

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme

• About:
  • The Scheme was launched to addresses the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of women’s empowerment over a life-cycle continuum.
  • It is a Tri-ministerial effort of the Ministries of Women and Child Development (MW&CD), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MH&FW), and Ministry of Education.
• Main Objectives:
  • Prevention of gender-biased sex-selective elimination.
  • Ensuring survival & protection of the girl child.
  • Ensuring education and participation of the girl child.
  • Protecting rights of Girl children.
• Innovative Interventions under BBBP: Innovations that have created a positive ecosystem/ enabling environment for girls include:
  • Guddi-Gudda Boards: (Display of Birth Statistics (number of Girls born vis-à-vis number of Boys) in public).
    • Example: Jalgaon district, Maharashtra has installed digital Guddi-Gudda Display Boards.
  • Breaking Gender Stereotypes & Challenging Son-centric Rituals: Celebration of birth of the girl child, dedicating special day on value of girl child, plantation drives symbolizing nurturing and care for girl child.
    • Example: Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu), Selfie with Daughters (Jind district, Haryana).

Amrit Dharohar Capacity Building Scheme

Why in News?

The Central government is spearheading a significant transformation in the realm of wetland tourism with the 'Amrit Dharohar Capacity Building Scheme'.

• This initiative, launched in June 2023, aims to revolutionize tourism practices at ecologically-sensitive wetlands, particularly Ramsar sites like Odisha's Chilika Lake and Haryana's Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary.

Key Points

• The scheme is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.
• The scheme will be implemented over the next three years (2023 onwards) to encourage optimal use of wetlands, and enhance biodiversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism opportunities and income generation for local communities.
  • The primary focus of the Scheme is to strategically transition from high-volume tourism to high-value nature tourism at ecologically-sensitive wetlands.
• The aim is to enhance livelihood opportunities for local communities through harnessing the nature-tourism potential of the Ramsar Sites across the country.
• The scheme is being implemented in convergence with various Central Government ministries and agencies, State wetland authorities, and a network of formal and informal institutions and individuals, working together for a common cause.
• Out of 16 identified Ramsar sites, five have been selected for pilot projects under the scheme.
  • These pilot sites include Sultanpur National Park (Haryana), Bhitarkanika Mangroves (Odisha), Chilika Lake (Odisha), Sirpur (Madhya Pradesh), and Yashwant Sagar (Madhya Pradesh).