Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: A girl from Haryana's Mewat district, which is a Muslim-dominated area, will be the brand ambassador of the 'Selfie with Daughter' campaign, the brain behind the initiative Sunil Jaglan said.

The campaign which completes four years today has received a lot of praise from PM Modi, who has appreciated it in the international arena.

Sunil Jaglan of Bibipur village in Jind district of Haryana said, "Today we celebrated 'selfie with daughter' day in Mewat in which about 250 girls from ten villages participated. A girl from Mewat district, a very backward area which is dominated by Muslim community will be the brand ambassador of this campaign."

"Forms in this regard have been given to the girls who participated and from tomorrow these forms will be made available in schools and colleges of this area. After getting all the applications by June 20 and after shortlisting them, a jury will select the brand ambassador and it will be announced on June 28, the day on which Modi had first talked about this initiative in his radio talk show `Mann Ki Baat’. The campaign will then continue throughout the country. The only criteria is that the girl should be able to put forth women issues up front and should also speak against triple talak and wearing of burkha." he said.

Jaglan said he will also try to arrange for the brand ambassador to meet the Prime Minister as it will give a huge boost to this campaign and boost the confidence of the girls.

Jaglan further said that this campaign is just not limited to have a photo with one’s daughter but to educate the girl child and give her economic freedom besides gender sensitization of the society and the parents in particular.

"I have been working for the last three years in Mewat under the smart village program in which the former president Pranab Mukherjee has adopted a few villages in this area. The women here are talented but they have no platforms to showcase their talent and also their education level is very low besides facing suppression and not knowing about their rights," he said.

Jaglan said that he has written a book on 'Selfie with daughter's' which deals with a gamut of issues pertaining to problems which arise due to gender imbalance and specially talks about Haryana as youth here are forced to get their brides from other states. He has given this book to almost thousand women in Mewat and is planning to give it to five thousand more women.

"On June 9, 2015, I started the 'Selfie with Daughter' campaign from Bibipur village. The result was that PM Modi lauded my campaign and later appealed for its adoption to the masses. He even appreciated it at Wembley stadium in UK and while addressing the CEO of companies in Silicon valley in US. He had even asked them to take selfies with their daughters. I started receiving many selfies on WhatsApp after this which gave me more encouragement and infused more energy in me," he said.