'Mann ki Baat': PM Modi sings paeans to Sunil Jaglan who launched 'Selfie with Daughter' campaign

When a couple is blessed with a baby girl, everybody in the family, relatives and friends used to liken her to Goddess Lakshmi. But in the recent past, many people started indulging in female foeticide, which reduced the sex ratio of males and females. Then people started realising the ill effects of infanticide. During that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 'Beti Bachao Beti Padao'. Drawing inspiration from it, Sunil Jaglan from Haryana launched an initiative called 'Selfie with Daughter' eight years ago, which became a success. According to Sunil, the girls and boys ratio has been improved in Haryana. During the 100th episode of 'Mann ki Baat', the Prime Minister heaped praises on Sunil's initiative.

Chandigarh: Female foeticide has become a cause for concern across the country. Hence, Sunil Jaglan, who hails from a village in Haryana took the initiative and launched the 'Selfie with Daughter' campaign eight years ago to create awareness about the ill effects of female foeticide. The initiative has become a success and won the appreciation of Jaglan, the former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Jind. He launched the campaign in June 2015.

Jaglan is on cloud nine as Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the initiative 'Selfie with Daughter' in his monthly "Mann ki Baat" radio broadcast. On the 100th episode of the broadcast on Sunday, the PM yet again heaped praises on Jaglan's initiative, saying it has turned into a global campaign. He pointed out that the campaign's objective was neither a selfie nor technology, but the importance given to the daughter.

This campaign also sheds light on how big a daughter's place is in a person's life," Modi said. "...It is the result of many such efforts that today there has been improvement in the gender ratio in Haryana," he pointed out. Speaking with some of those who have found mention on previous editions of "Mann ki Baat", Modi also praised the efforts of Pradeep Sangwan, another Haryana resident, who has been on a mission to clear the Himalayas of the waste left behind by tourists and established the Healing Himalayas Foundation for the purpose more than six years ago.

The Prime Minister mentioned the 'Selfie with Daughter' campaign during his past radio broadcasts gave impetus to the initiative. Through the 'campaign, Jaglan called upon the people to take photographs with their daughters and upload those on social media. Later, he created a dedicated website for the initiative where people could share selfies with their daughters. "I am happy to state that eight years after the 'Selfie with Daughter' campaign was launched, it has been a success. The campaign has also received great support from different parts of the world," Jaglan reminded.

'The PM during the 100th episode of his 'Mann ki Baat' on Sunday, said, "Sunil Jaglan had such an impact on my mind as there used to be a lot of discussion on gender ratio in Haryana." Modi reminded the audience that he had launched the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign in Haryana in 2015.

Modi said everyone remembers the 'Selfie with Daughter' and asked Jaglan how he was feeling now that it was being discussed again. "Prime Minister, sir, actually 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' that you launched from Haryana to bring smiles on the faces of daughters is a big thing for me and for all those who love daughters," Jaglan said.

Jaglan's two daughters -- Nandini and Yachika -- are students in Classes VII and IV. He said that he has put a nameplate outside his home bearing the name of Nandini, his elder daughter. Jaglan said in Jind, his native district, which he said used to be among those Haryana districts where the sex ratio was skewed, things have now reversed "I feel the campaign has had some positive impact in my district and some other places as well and has helped bring a change in the people's mindset towards the girl child," he said.

Jaglan has been working for women's empowerment and village development for the past several years with a focus on female foeticide. Jaglan said after Modi launched the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign, he felt inspired and wanted to do something to supplement the government's efforts.

"I would say the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign has had a tremendous impact in Haryana and helped improve the skewed sex ratio," he said. Last month, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that Haryana, which was once infamous for female foeticide, is now celebrating the birth of every girl child and, at present, there are 923 girls for every 1,000 boys in the state.