'Smart Daughter Program' in Tulsipur

Pushpa Chaudhary, 22, of Tulsipur Sub-Metropolis-6, Rajaura, Dang, gave birth to her first child last January. After giving birth to a daughter at home, her husband Chandra Chaudhary, 25, and other family members were shocked. He said happily, "Lakshmi entered the house." His happiness was further heightened when the Tulsipur sub-metropolitan municipality started opening a bank account and depositing money.

 Chandra Tulsipur manages the household expenses with the money earned from wages while Pushpa is a housewife. The Chaudhary couple said, "For a poor person like them, the two hundred rupees that the sub-metropolitan government will deposit in their daughter's account on a monthly basis will be very big and will help them a lot when their daughter grows up tomorrow."

  Similarly, Sita Gandharva of Tulsipur-5 says that she is happy after the sub-metropolitan government deposited money in the bank account opened in the name of her 6-month-old daughter. He said that even if the amount is small now, it will increase for 20 years and tomorrow the same amount will help in the higher education of his daughter.

 Tulsipur Sub-Metropolis has been depositing Rs. 200 per month in the bank account every month since the birth of the daughter for the economic and social empowerment of the daughter. The program has now been implemented after the 95th meeting of the executive committee passed the working procedure 'Smart daughter, marriage only after 20 years'. The program stipulates that a daughter born in the sub-metropolis will be reimbursed every month until she reaches 20 years of age and will be able to withdraw only after marriage. For this, the women, children and social development branch of the sub-metropolis has also formulated procedures for every girl born in the city.

 Under this campaign, one thousand two hundred rupees has been deposited in the account of 134 daughters at the rate of one hundred rupees every month in the last fiscal year. In the current fiscal year, the amount has been doubled and so far the money has been deposited in the accounts of 400 daughters, said Maya Shrestha, chief of the women, children and social development branch of the sub-metropolis. He also informed that the amount deposited in the bank account will be deposited every month till the daughter reaches the age of 20 and the amount can be withdrawn only if the girl does not get married for 20 years.

 The procedure stipulates that the amount will be deposited after the parent opens a bank account and provides the account number to the sub-metropolis to be included in the program. According to the procedure, the amount will be credited to the account at the rate of Rs. 1,200 in the first month of birth and Rs. 100 every month thereafter and Rs. After 20 years, only one lump sum can be withdrawn. The sub-metropolitan government has made it a rule to withdraw money in the meantime if you have to undergo treatment for a serious chronic illness and your studies are stopped due to financial situation.

According to the procedure, in case of premature death of the girl child, failure to complete the secondary level due to severe illness, death of the guardian and financial difficulties, the amount deposited in the account should be paid in full. In order to join the program, one must have been living in the sub-metropolis, marriage certificate of parents, pregnancy test, maternity certificate at the health institution must be submitted to the sub-metropolis within 35 days. The program will help reduce the legal and social discrimination of daughters and help reduce child marriage, said Chief Shrestha.

 Nira Yogi, a women's rights activist, said that the campaign launched by the sub-metropolitan government had sent a positive message but the amount was insufficient. He stressed on the need to invest in education to make the daughter smart. He said that it would be effective if the sub-metropolitan government had invested in programs such as helping the very poor, destitute and unhelpful girls to get education, child marriage or bringing the perpetrators under the ambit of action.

Stating that the trend of killing fetuses for a son with two daughters is still prevalent in Nepali society, he said that this program has established the importance of a daughter. The sub-metropolitan municipality has allocated Rs. 1.5 million for the program in the current fiscal year.