The Bhagyalakshmi scheme, launched by the State Government in 2006 with the aim of correcting the skewed male-female ratio in the State, is suffering from several drawbacks, including above the poverty line (APL) families receiving benefits under it in violation of the stipulated norms.
The benefits of the scheme are restricted to two girl children from below the poverty line (BPL) families. After verification of documents, the Women and Child Development Department deposits Rs. 19,300 with the LIC of India in the name of the first beneficiary of the family and Rs. 18,350 in the name of the second beneficiary of the same family. After the completion of 18 years, the elder girl would get a maturity amount of Rs. 1,00,097 and the second girl Rs. 1,00,052.
Pitfalls
A study by T.V. Sekher, Associate Professor, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, done in conjunction with the United Nations Population Fund for the Planning Commission as an input to the 12th Five Year Plan process, has identified several pitfalls in the implementation of the scheme.
The study titled ‘Special financial incentive schemes for the girl child in India' said: “The enrolment under the scheme is not very satisfactory. Cumbersome procedures and overdependence on anganwadiworkers to identify the beneficiaries are the reasons for the poor reach of the programme. There were considerable delays in issuing insurance bonds in the names of beneficiaries.”
Family planning
One of the conditions in the scheme is that either of the parents of the beneficiary should have undergone terminal family planning. However, the study found that in 25 per cent of the cases, parents of the girl child had not undergone sterilisation. Nearly 3 per cent of the beneficiaries of the scheme belonged to APL family, a violation of the stipulated norms, the study found.
It was found that in a few cases (less than 1 per cent) families availed of benefits without producing a birth certificate. One of the eligibility criteria is that the girl child should have attended an anganwadicentre regularly between the ages of three and six. According to the survey, 2 per cent of the beneficiaries had neither attended anganwadicentre nor received nutritious food under the Integrated Child Development Scheme.
The study said only 73 per cent of the beneficiaries had received LIC bonds. Nearly 43 per cent of the beneficiaries received LIC bonds between four to six months and 15 per cent within four months from the date of registration. Interaction with non-governmental organisations had revealed that there were complaints of misuse of the scheme, and anganwadiworkers demanded bribe for registration of the beneficiaries, according to the study.
However, officials maintain that once the child tracking system is in place, many of these malpractices can be minimised. A total of 1,23,789 beneficiaries were covered under the scheme in 2007-08, 2,97,764 in 2008-09 and 1,44,749 beneficiaries were covered under the scheme in 2009-10.
Prof. Sekher suggested relaxation of the condition pertaining to sterilisation, and simplification of the eligibility criteria, and registration procedures to cover more girls under the scheme.
