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Girl Child Day: When birth of a daughter in Haryana sparked a movement 

Jan 24, 2025 05:04 PM IST

Through Selfie with daughter, Sunil Jaglan, a former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Jind district, transformed a personal experience into a campaign that has spread to over 70 countries.

When Nandini was born on January 24, 2012, her father, Sunil Jaglan, came across a life-changing moment that set him on a mission to challenge patriarchy and bring pride to daughters.

Sunil Jaglan, 42, a former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Jind district, taking a selfie with daughters of Haryana on National Girl Child Day on Friday. (HT Photo)
Sunil Jaglan, 42, a former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Jind district, taking a selfie with daughters of Haryana on National Girl Child Day on Friday. (HT Photo)

Jaglan, 42, a computer science graduate and a former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Haryana’s Jind district, transformed a personal experience into now what is widely considered a global campaign, Selfie with daughter, which has now spread to over 70 countries.

“When my daughter was born 13 years ago, I noticed the nurse’s expression. While leaving the hospital, I offered her 2,000 to distribute sweets, but she refused, saying, ‘If it were a boy, we would have accepted it’,” Jaglan says, recalling the moment that triggered the resolve to change mindsets.

Speaking over phone on National Girl Child Day on Friday, Jaglan told HT that the incident was behind a slew of initiatives he took to change societal attitudes towards daughters and bring them pride.

Small steps to big change

Jaglan said that his first step was to visit the village health centre, where he checked the register and discovered the dismal sex ratio at Bibipur. Subsequently, he organised the country’s first Mahila Gram Sabha (women’s village assembly), which revealed that female foeticide was widespread due to the desire for a male child. Determined, he left no stone unturned to turn the Beti Bachao campaign into a people’s movement.

“Nandini’s birth changed me,” says Jaglan, a proud father of two daughters. To mark National Girl Child Day on Friday, his teams distributed first-aid kits among women, first period smile charts were pasted inside girls’ washrooms in schools. “These charts guide how to use sanitary pads and dispose them. We launched 75 awareness campaigns, such as Gali Band Ghar (abuse-free homes), women happiness chart and organised balika sabha,” said Jaglan.

In a first, he says, he convened a khap panchayat to address female foeticide, where women participated for the first time a few years ago. He later launched lado panchayats (women-focused assemblies) to advocate raising the marriageable age of girls to 21 years. The concept was even discussed in Parliament, he says.

Jaglan’s innovative campaigns made Bibipur the country’s first women-friendly gram panchayat and inspired similar initiatives in hundreds of villages.

Catching President, PM’s attention

On June 9, 2015, the idea of Selfie with Daughter struck Jaglan when he saw Nandini taking a selfie on a mobile phone. He uploaded a selfie with her on social media, and the post was widely shared, catching the attention of then President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both leaders encouraged turning the initiative into a mass movement.

“Today, Selfie with Daughter has reached 70 countries, and its impact is visible in the form of over 50,000 nameplates installed across India bearing daughters’ names instead of their fathers’ or grandfathers’. This small step symbolises a big change,” says Jaglan.

Like father, like daughter

Today, Nandini has joined his mission, running her own initiatives like Gali-Mukt School (abuse-free schools) and First Period Smile, inspiring girls to take pride in themselves.

“It’s no magic,” says Jaglan, whose campaigns have been adopted by state and central governments as official programmes.

His journey serves as a powerful reminder of how one person’s determination can spark a global movement, inspiring change for generations to come. “When I realised the need for change, I transformed myself first. The day other men realise it, they will change, too,” he says.

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