National Girl Child Day is celebrated on the 24th of January every year. It is regarded as a national observance day for the female child. This celebration began as an initiative for offering new opportunities and support systems to the girl of the nation. It is celebrated for increasing awareness in the society about the injustice and inequalities that a girl child has to go through in the country. Inequality is a major problem when it comes to the female girl child. It prevails in many areas such as inequality in legal rights, education, medical care, nutrition, honour, protection, child marriage and so on.
The Government of India began The National Day of Girl Child as a mission to develop the conditions of the girls of India. It is responsible for spreading awareness, promoting girl education, enhancing the meaningful contribution of girls when it comes to decision making procedures with an active support of family and community members.
In India, the female literacy rate is struggling to get beyond 53.87% and one-third of the population of young girl children is malnourished. Women of the reproductive age group are anemic and/or suffering from several health issues and diseases. This is all because of the gender discrimination that is still a large part of the society and it limits the access to health services for the female race. Several steps have been taken at regional, state and national levels by the Ministry of Women and Child Development for improving the status of the girl child with the help of an array of schemes.
The celebration for this National Day Girl Child was started in 2008 by the Women and Child Development Ministry for highlighting the inequalities and discrimination faced by the female section of the society, especially the girl child. At this day, several advertisements do the rounds of TV channels, radio stations and newspapers to convey the message of “Save the Girl Child”. These ads are run by the government and various NGOs also get together for taking part in the celebration and fighting against the social stigma associated with the girl child.
