On Tuesday, 2nd May, the ‘Ladli Laxmi Utsav’ was celebrated at the Chief Minister’s residence, Bhopal, at 12 PM, and its live telecast was done all over the state through webcast. The celebration took place across all the state, district, urban body, and gram panchayat levels. All the districts of the state organized local programmes at urban body and gram panchayat levels.
During the event, local public representatives, guardians, presidents and members of the Ladli clubs, and Ladli girls were present prominently. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, launched the study of the Ladli Laxmi Yojana, which was undertaken by the Institute of Financial Management Research with the support of UNICEF and the Directorate of Women and Child Development, MP. The study reveals that 98 percent of the sample respondents were keen to educate the girl child, 89 percent of the participants stated that they intended to treat both the genders equally and 65 percent of mothers agreed that their daughters can get married without dowry.
“The Ladli Laxmi Scheme has turned 16-year-old today. Earlier, this society discriminated between boys and girls, and girl child was considered to be a burden, and that is why, 16 years ago, the Ladli Lakshmi Scheme was introduced”.
Making a crucial announcement, Chouhan said that now, under the Ladli Lakshmi Scheme, the fees of the female students in selected medical colleges, engineering, and law colleges will be deposited by the Shivraj government of MP. He added that it is the positive impact of the scheme that for every 1000 boys in the state, 956 girls are taking birth, which was 911 earlier.
The MP CM added that between 9 and 15 May, different programmes will be organized in every panchayat and city for girls. On 10th May, the Ladli Friendly Panchayat will also be announced, with a competition to be held on the 11th of May. A health checkup drive will be organized on 12th May, and girls will be visiting government offices on 13th May.
During the event, it was also stated how with the scheme, the societal evil of child marriage is coming to an end, as earlier, the share of the same in the state of MP was 57 percent, which has now fallen down to 23 percent, marking a reduction of 34 percent. The female literacy rate has also increased from 44 percent to more than 65 percent in the state. The gender ratio in the state has improved as well from 948 girls for every 1000 boys to 970 for every 1000 boys.
Till now, more than 44 lakh girl children have benefited from the Ladli Lakshmi Scheme, wherein girls receive education scholarships and once they turn 21, they are also receiving 1 lakh 43 thousand rupees each, as a form of assistance to their families for their marriage.
Under this scheme, the state government of Madhya Pradesh helps the families of girl children right from the birth of a girl child, when the family is helped with 11, 000 rupees. An assistance of 5, 000 rupees is given when the girl child is admitted to school, along with the financial assistance of another 5, 000 rupees when the girl reaches standards 6, 9, 10, and 12.
