10 years of ‘Selfie with Daughter’ marked with emotion, pride

A state-level function was held at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) on Monday to mark the 10th anniversary of the ‘Selfie with Daughter’ campaign — a movement promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and launched from Jind district on June 9, 2015, to combat female foeticide and promote gender equality.

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Girls and their parents from several states, including Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, took part in the event, which was jointly organised by MDU’s University Outreach Programme, Dean Student Welfare Office, Women Study Centre and the Selfie with Daughter Foundation.

Today's programme was dedicated to the prevention of female foeticide and the ‘Gaali Band Ghar’ Abhiyan. On the occasion, Sunil Jaglan, founder of the campaign, presented details of the journey of completion of 10 years of the ‘Selfie with Daughter’ campaign.

He also announced that the campaign to stop female foeticide and the ‘Gaali Band Ghar’ (abuse-free home) campaign would be accelerated in various states of the country.

During the event, the ‘Selfie with Daughter Panchayat Award’ was presented to Gote village Kheda panchayat of Narsinghpur district (Madhya Pradesh) for its exceptional work in women empowerment, beating 27 panchayats nationwide. Sarpanch Priyanka was honoured for uploading every newborn girl’s photo to the campaign and implementing numerous welfare schemes.

‘Best Selfie of the Year’ was awarded to Khushi from Noida, daughter of single mother Sheetal, who raised her alone and turned her into a successful entrepreneur. Khushi, once fluent in abusive language, has now overcome 70 per cent of it with the campaign's influence.

Raihana from West Bengal was praised for starting a campaign in her own house to stop her father from abusing. Her parents used to abuse even in conversation. “This is a mental disease. Now, my father's abuses have been controlled by 60 per cent,” Raihana said.

Ramika, originally from Delhi and now living in England, is the third winner of this year. Ramika is the director of National Youth Art Trust UK, which works in the field of socio-economics and education. She is promoting the campaign internationally.

Dr Sharanjit Kaur, Chairperson of Rehabilitation Council of India, as chief guest and MDU Vice-Chancellor Prof Rajbir Singh felicitated the participants.

“Women’s empowerment is key to societal progress. The campaign will be integrated into student orientation at MDU,” said the VC.

MDU Registrar Krishnakant recited one of his poems. DSW Prof Randeep Rana, Prof Vinita Hooda, Prof Anju Dhiman, Prof Shalini Singh and Prof Rajkumar were present on the occasion.