A day – when a mother and father will smile with joy and
shout at the top of their lungs ‘It’s a girl,’ when a mother will be sending
her girl to school and telling her to dream the most impossible dreams and work
hard towards fulfilling them, when a girl wouldn’t be stared at while walking
on a street, when a girl wouldn’t have to change her daily route to avoid being
stalked, when a girl wouldn’t be avoiding the glares of men whistling at her—is
the day we all look forward to. Although over the years, India has made strides towards women empowerment, a lot still needs to be done.

Some people have taken matters into their own hands, raising
their voice against what is wrong and bringing a smile to innocent girls whose
rights are often snatched. On National Girl Child Day, let’s take a dose of
inspiration from these strong personalities:

1. Trisha Shetty

A human rights lawyer and activist, Trisha
Shetty launched her non-profit organisation ‘She Says’ in 2015 after she was
hit by the realisation that it is easier to find restaurants online in India
than it was to find information for victims of sexual abuse. Two years later,
they began a campaign #LahukaLagaan, which aimed at abolishing tax on sanitary
napkins. Eventually, after a lot of efforts, in 2018, the 12% tax was scrapped
by the government.

She met with former US first lady Michelle Obama, who pledged
to invest in young girls’ education, by launching the Global Girls Alliance.
She was one of the three winners of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award and was
felicitated by Queen Elizabeth II herself.

2. Sonal Kapoor

Sonal Kapoor was living a happy-go-lucky
life when reality hit her brutally as she uncovered the horror of children
being sexually assaulted in a brothel in an on-ground assignment. Since then,
she devoted her life to the cause of fighting child abuse. In 2010, she founded
the Protsahan India Foundation that aimed at breaking the vicious cycle of
child abuse and poverty in urban and rural India.

She has literally filled the
lives of several girls with colours as her foundation uses a holistic
approach with art therapy and creative education to heal the scars and help the
girls rise and build their own future. Sonal is a member of the expert committee on anti-child trafficking
(Delhi Commission of Women) and a member of CSO Coalition to End Child
Marriage in India

3.  Dr Kriti Bharti

Rajasthan has reported some of the highest
number of child marriages all across the world. Dr Kriti Bharti, a
rehabilitation psychologist and social activist, has come up with a unique
solution to tackle this problem – child marriage annulments. She founded the
Saarthi Trust in 2011 to prevent child marriage by educating girls about their
rights. She was approached by a girl named Laxmi, whose parents told her to
move into her husband’s house when she turned 18.

She was married off at the
age of one. Kriti worked with Laxmi for an entire year, and moved the courts to
get the marriage successfully annulled, making it the first ever child marriage
annulment in India. Since then, Saarthi Trust has annulled 31 child marriages
and prevented over 900 more.

4.  Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar, an award-winning actor,
filmmaker, singer and the Regional UN Women Ambassador for South Asia started a
social campaign in March, 2013 called ‘MARD’ that stands for Men Against Rape
and Discrimination. The campaign employs music to spread awareness against
social evils that prey on girls.

Akhtar came up with the term following an
incident in August, 2012 where a lawyer was raped and murdered by the watchman.
In 2017, a concert called ‘Bas Ab Bahot Ho Gaya’ was organised in Bandra,
Mumbai to end violence against girls and women. Salim- Sulaiman, Armaan Malik
and Harshdeep Kaur were among many who lent their voice to the cause.

5.  Rahul Bose

Bollywood actor Rahul Bose founded the NGO
HEAL that stands for Help Eradicate Abuse through Learning, working towards
eliminating sexual abuse of children. He, along with Vidya Balan, launched the organisation
in 2017.

HEAL has trained individuals in schools and provided assistance to
nearly 60 survivors of child sexual abuse so far. The NGO plans to reach out
more schools, children and victims to offer support and create awareness. Shabana
Azmi, Kalki Koechlin, Konkana Sen Sharma and others supported the campaign.

Stand for what is right, speak against what
is wrong and this world will be a better place.