A village panchayat here in Haryana, infamous for its skewed sex ratio, has come up with an initiative to drive home the message of treating the girl child well — a contest called “selfie with daughter”.
The Bibipur panchayat has launched the contest in which parents from across the State have to take selfies with their daughters and send it to the Sarpanch, Sunil Jaglan, through WhatsApp.
The best three selfies will get a trophy, certificate and cash prize, each.
The photographs will be judged by a team of 30 women sarpanchs and anganwadi workers from Punjab who will be visiting the village on June 19.
The team will be here to learn about the initiatives of the panchayat to prevent female foeticide and to increase the standing of women in society.
“I have received over 100 selfies with daughters from across the State in three days,” Mr. Jaglan said. “Usually we don’t see many pictures of daughters in people’s house here. The objective of the contest is to give more importance to daughters at home.”
“Clicking selfies is the latest craze; so we decided to hold this contest to encourage parents to take pictures with their daughters,” he said adding that the panchayat is making a contribution to the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” campaign through it.
Haryana is among the bottom five States in sex ratio — 871 in 2014, a marginal increase from 868 in 2013.
To mark the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil, the panchayat has decided to develop a “Bismil selfie spot” at Lado Sarovar.
— PTI
