Atta, girl!

 Since 2008, January 24 is special. Want to know why? Well, the day is celebrated as the National Girl Child's Day. Girls are special. Girls are unique. So they are thought of these days across the length and breadth of India, I suppose  The days of female foeticide are not dead. Yet they are more a thing of the past, right? Families are okay with a daughter as the only child, right? No longer is it a taboo for sure!

Why, these days most sportswomen come from villages and three tier towns. Most interestingly, a state like Haryana, where patriarchy is deeply rooted, nay, entrenched, produces star players, athletes, hey, even wrestlers! Equally assuring are the sports stars that dazzle the 'seven sisters'.

I would undoubtedly assert that girls these days are much more empowered every which way than the earlier generations who could not even dream of realities accepted as the commonplace currently.  Comparatively,  education, for example,  is easily accessible. So are career choices. Dowry is less a threat. 

Such sure, however slow, progress does not at all mean that all is well. The new forms of technology are creating new dangers and difficulties for women.  A deepfake image is far more deadly and dangerous to deal with than a photoshopped image as the Mandana scandal shows. With sophisticated cameras available in every and any mobile, one cannot even know when who took which picture, right? 

Girls, too, are lost to the craze for  the reel making fad on the social media which is indeed a web, if not handled carefully. Girls, given the opportunities open now, should not fall a prey to such traps, especially because earlier generations have suffered s lot to get them to where they are now.

Society, too, needs to make spaces safe for girls. It is not merely the duty of the police. It is also related to the attitude of the entire society which should stand by, support a girl's right to say 'NO' to any form of harassment. Body shaming, eve teasing, stalking, eavesdropping on her activities are CRIMES, and must be severely punished both by the authorities and the society because a happy girl signifies a good society!

Pratima@  A safe and happy girl means a good nation!