Wishing all the Girl Child, a very Happy Balika Diwas!

There are a lot of festivals and events celebrated in India that have some religious connotations but however there are also some of them which are observed in order to mark an event, a phenomenon or to spread awareness about certain cause.

This trend has actually been borrowed from the west of observing a day in order to sensitize people about important societal issues. One such issue in India is saving the girl child. India being a nation that has many societal issues, it has become important for the government and some of the good non – profit organisations to mark a day in order to commemorate the importance of all girl child in India.

Therefore today there is an event called the Rashtriya Balika Diwas that is observed all over India to highlight the issues a girl child faces in the still conservative society of India. It is a day when the objective is to ensure that from that day onwards the girl child gets equal care, concern, nutrition, and opportunity and above all love from her parents and guardians. By this it means giving her the needed food for a healthy life, safe environment, good education, and other things which a boy child gets in India but is often ignored when it comes to the girl child. This event is also known by the name of Girl Child’s day’ and was initiated by the ministry and women and child development. They took up the cause and took charge with the implementing and organizing of this important issue throughout India. One very important activity of the event is to educate the girl child of up till the age of 18 about various girl child protections laws provisioned by the government, to make them aware of the legislations that can help them save themselves. The organizers of the event highlight legislations of Dowry Prohibition Act of 2006, Prohibition of child marriage act of 2006, Domestic violence Act of 2009, etc. so that the girls of India can help themselves from the evil clutches of the society and also help to empower themselves.

Also known as the ‘National Girl Child Day’, this event was undertaken by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during the year of 2009. Every year it is held on the 24th of January and this date also marks the day when India got its first Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1966. Before it was seen that many other countries had a day when the girl child was celebrated and it was only later on did the Indian laws realized the importance of the girl child and how our society was ignoring their value.

Hence, India had to establish a day to celebrate all the young girls of the age group from 11 to 18 years old who constitute more than 17 percent of the total women population in India. The event gives importance most to the education of these young girls for it is believed that education is the first thing that will help them empower themselves. Indian government has made laws where in all child both male and female are protected from the social clutches.