The day Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his latest version of ‘Maan Ki Baat’ radio talk credited the 33-year-old Panchayat head of the Bibipur village in Haryana, Sunil Jaglan, with initiating the ‘Selfie with daughter’ campaign, he made the fun part of his ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign (‘Save Daughters, Educate Daughter’) go viral with Indian fathers crowding the cyberspace with selfies with their daughters. Our city is also home to many takers, who had posted their selfies for the cause of their daughters. Posting selfies with daughters is fine, but would it change the way society views its girl children? Would it change the mindset of the people – some of those, mind you, have money – who feel it’s better to invest in a boy than in a girl? Orissa POST went around in the town to find what men and women exactly think about this selfie craze. Excerpts:
It is a very good initiative which will be good for the development of girls. If a girl gets a proper education, the whole society and community would benefit from her. The mentality of most of the people here needs to change in favour of the girl child. I have a daughter who is a house surgeon now, but when I admitted her in a medical college to pursue the MBBS course, some of my friends questioned what would I get in return after educating a daughter. This kind of narrow mentality still exists among the people. I have never distinguished between my daughter and my son and gave them equal opportunity. The attitude with a gender bias won’t help society progress further.
Jeevan Patnaik, superintending archaeologist, ASI
I have also posted a selfie with my daughter in support of the cause. ‘Selfie with daughter’ idea is very good, but it would really work when daughters are safe. It can happen the day when each of us teaches our sons to respect every woman. Now a day, age also doesn’t matter anymore… . A six-month-old baby, or a seventy-year-old elderly lady, nobody is safe. It’s not the dress that matters; it is the dirty mind and the thinking of the people that matter. When there will be the correct male female ratio, we will be in a position to say, yes we love our daughters
Sushma Tripathy, a teacher
I feel that with this initiative, a change will definitely come in the society. It may look very small but it will have a strong impact and force people to change their mindset towards the girl child.
Nirajkanta Mahapatra, ayurvedic physician
I have posted a selfie of me and my daughter in the facebook in support of the initiative. Every father must encourage his daughter to study and achieve more and be self-reliant. Daughters are beautiful gifts of God; they must be preserved, protected and if possible must be promoted on selfie so that the photograph inspires other parents and when mindset of all parents change, then our daughters will be the pride of our nation. … I absolutely loved this initiative as I am proud of my daughter and a selfie is the least we can do to show our harmonious relationship with our daughters.”
Prof S N Tripathy, HoD English, BJB Autonomous College
Though it is gaining popularity on the social sites, some experts believe that until and unless the social, economic and spiritual conditions of women change, there will not be any real change in the society. This euphoria will die soon, like many others. Meaningful changes are possible only if systematic planning is made to empower women, politically and economically at all levels. ‘Selfie with daughter’ cannot initiate the radical change required. It is a byproduct of a society in which the daughter makes a meaningful contribution to their parents’ life just as a son does. In rural areas, girls and women face more problems than their counterparts in the urban areas. We need to change the attitude of people in the rural areas. Socially, economically, culturally and spiritually their condition is still backward. I am not very hopeful that this initiative would bring any effective change in rural areas.
Prof Ram Chandra Majhi, department of Philosophy, Revenshaw University.
