National Youth Day- dedicated to Girl Child By Kamayani Mahabal

 Jan 12, Mumbai-“ Is there equality among boys and girls in our society ?- NO,  why are girls and boys treated  differently  ?, what can you as students do to curb the menace of missing girls ?, these are some of questions Rahul Bose, film actor and social activist  bombarded to the packed crowd  of  more than 500 NSS students of Mumbai University  at  Chetna College, on the occasion of National Youth day dedicated to celebrate girl child by Forum against Sex selection,a   network of  20 Ngos and CBOS working on gender issues  in Maharashtra .
Provoking the  girl students Bose, asked the girls if they will marry without taking dowry and  if they do not get any boy would they consider to stay unmarried.   He pointed out that need of the hour is students to sit with their parents together and make them understand that they are not burden and  they would rather be alone than in a violent and unhappy relationship with a man who was just greedy.
The Forum Against Sex Selection (FASS) was formed in May 2011 in Mumbai to renew the campaign against sex selection  which is responsible for the countrys appallingly skewed sex ratio and in particular, Maharashtra state.  Jyoti Mhapsekar of Stree Mukti Sangathana, who has been working more than two decades on gender issues , with her team performed a scene from her new Marathi play “  Mulgi Zali ho ” and sang protest songs  highlighting discrimination against Girl child. She also informed that not many knew the fact that Savitiribai Phule , who was the first female  teacher  of first women’s school in India lit  the pyre of her parents.
Noted  Theatre  Artiste of  “Experimental Theatre Foundation”, Manjul Bhardwaj, had a fiery  interactive session students on the issue, highlighting the social, economic,  and political factors of sex selection. The students resolved to take up the issue of gender discrimination and the join the campaign against sex selection.
FASS in collaboration with Mumbai University,  National Social Service (NSS) and Chetana College organised the event ” Tumchya Aamchya Lekin Sathee – Sangharsh Samatesathee” at Chetana College, Bandra East, Mumbai.