Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed the Bill to restore Gender Balance

Andhra Pradesh state Assembly on 19 June 2013 passed the bill called the Andhra Pradesh Bangaru Talli Girl Child Promotion and Empowerment Bill 2013 which provides, among other benefits, financial assistance of 2500 rupees to a family on birth of a girl child. Each such family would get a total of 55000 rupees till the girl's 21st birthday and upon completion of intermediate (Plus-2) or graduation, an additional 50000 rupees or one lakh rupees respectively would be given as incentive.

The bill is aimed at the restoring the gender balance and channeling the capabilities of women for nation building. The Opposition benches remained empty in the House following the suspension of TRS and YSR Congress members and walkout staged by TDP, BJP, CPI and CPM MLAs.

Women Development and Child Welfare Minister of Andhra Pradesh V Sunita Laxma Reddy had introduced the Bill.

Child sex ratio in AP declined from 975 in 1991 to 961 in 2001 and further to 943 in 2011, signalling a grave danger for the demographic composition.