In many families across India, with the birth of a girl child starts a new phase of societal pressure and perceived responsibilities. Families find themselves pressurised to start saving for wedding rather than the education and also a continuous effort to ensure safety. The societal pressures do not equal to society taking equal responsibility for the welfare of the girl child. This is why, the government of India, state governments, international agencies like the UN, NGOs and civil welfare groups are working through various initiatives to safeguard the welfare of the girl child. These agencies also have different schemes to help underprivileged families conduct weddings of their daughters with dignity.
Mr. Ramesh Lakhulal Chaurasia is the national president of the Akhil Bharatiya Adarsh Chaurasia Mahasabha. He is a successful businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist who has been working endlessly and passionately for the welfare of underprivileged sections of several communities including the Chaurasia community.
“Our team helps organize and conduct community weddings for young people who don’t want to or cannot afford spending lakhs of rupees on a wedding. We organize community gatherings where Chaurasia families and their young sons and daughters can interact. Such gatherings help these youngsters bond with people from their age group and also find a suitable match from within the community. We provide all sorts of assistance and also organize community weddings. Recently, one such gathering was organized in Madhya Pradesh. The community wedding was organized under Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana scheme. Many such initiatives have been undertaken in the last many years.”
“We strive hard to change social and economic attitudes towards the girl child so that she also gets equal care and opportunities. Our organization works to generate awareness against gender-based abortions. Our teams work at the local level with community members to ensure safety and wellbeing of the girl child right from her infancy. We also work to promote child education and to break stereotypes to promote gender equality. We help both Chaurasia men and women explore different career options. We encourage widow remarriage and also support girls right to inherit property.”, Mr. Ramesh Chaurasia added.
The Indian government also offers various schemes to help the parents of a girl child save for her wedding expenses from an early age. Through such welfare schemes, parents from all sections of society are able to save enough through small investments every month. The organization helps to create awareness about such schemes so that they don’t have to find themselves in unfortunate situations which require them to take loans. Such schemes are also there to promote education for girls. Many state governments also run similar schemes. Such schemes also help to prevent child marriages and discourage abortions.
Here are some schemes offered by the government
- Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
- Balika Samriddhi Yojana
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
- Ladli scheme
- Kanya Kosh Scheme
- Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana (Similar schemes with different names are being run by many state governments)
- National Scheme of incentives to girls for secondary education
We talked to one of the senior members of the women’s wing of the Mahasabha (The Akhil Bharatiya Adarsh Chaurasia Mahila Mahasabha) She said “Our organization is working actively to promote girl education so that more girls can complete their education. This is also being done by encouraging people to avail different government schemes which are aimed to promote complete education for the girl child. We also help underprivileged families by educating them about schemes through which they can save for their daughters’ future. Such schemes enable parents to create tax free savings for their daughters. Our team works passionately under the leadership of Mr. Ramesh Chaurasia who is a constant source of inspiration for us all.”
