What’s the story?
Following the success of the film Dangal, residents of Kamod, a village in Charkhi Dadri district, have installed their daughter’s nameplates outside their houses. The Kamod village in Bhiwani District, Haryana, which is just 15kms away from Balai village where the Phogat family lived, has an impressive child sex ratio (0-6 years) of 1,300 girls against 1,000 boys.
Also Read: 'Dangal' inspires government, akhadas in Haryana to receive100 wrestling mats
Sarpanch of Kamod, SudharsanKumar had always wanted to do something meaningful for the women in his village and Dangal had given him the inspiration to take up the initiative.
In case you did not know...
Dangal is a feature film starring Aamir Khan, whose story revolves around how an amateur wrestler trained his daughters to become international champions. The film also highlights how he raised them in an orthodox village where girls were not afforded opportunities.
The heart of the matter
To set an example for the people in his village, sarpanch Kumar, installed the first nameplate with his daughter’s name inscribed outside his paternal house. Soon, the initiative was followed by all panchayat members and Anganwadi workers.
Panchayat Sudharshan has also promised to bear the expenses of all the nameplates with names of the girls, their father’s and their mother’s names inscribed. Anganwadi worker Jagwanti Devi also said that in the case of two daughters in a household, the name of the elder one would be put on the nameplate.
Also Read: Dangal sweeps three of the top four awards at the Filmfare awards 2017
Mahavir Singh Phogat, the protagonist of the Dangal story, was pleased by the initiative and had this to say in an interview with TOI: "I am overwhelmed to witness that people have started shunning biases of treating girls less than boys but the government should come forward by providing more education and sports facilities in rural areas for promotion.”
What’s next?
This is a brilliant initiative taken up by the Sarpanch. It will help people realise that daughters too deserve their place in society and also help in getting rid of the patriarchal mindset of people.
Sportskeeda’s take
While it’s a very brave and the right decision taken up by the sarpanch of Kamod village, it’s also slightly damning to see that it takes a movie for the masses to realise.
