In President's adopted village, nameplates to bear daughter's name

In a unique initiative taken by the residents of Alipur village in Sohna, all their houses will bear the name of their daughters on the nameplates.

Earlier the nameplates of the residents used to be on the name of the village elders.

This village, located on the outskirts of Gurugram has been adopted by the President of India for development.

This move is being seen as another positive initiative under 'beti bachao, beti padhao' (save the daughter, educate the daughter) movement that has been adopted by Haryana Government for women empowerment.

Often criticised for its skewed sex ratio, recently, Haryana has been showing marked improvement in the same.

The latest figures released by the state government shows a figure of 950 females to 1000 males.

However, districts in South Haryana led by Gurugram continue to be lag behind in terms of sex ratio.

But, despite being the richest district in Haryana, Millennium City is yet to cross the 900 barrier mark. Presently, it has 893 females to 1000 males. "Change in the mindset of the residents will change the situation for better," echoed the Alipur residents.

According to the women village head, (sarpanch), Mamta Dagar, this is a small but a significant step was taken by the villages for women empowerment.

"However, I still feel that we need to take more steps for the women. If this step is carried out properly, we will educate both the family members and also the women of the household about their responsibility in the society," said Mamta.

She stated that all of us need to encourage women to be more proactive and also apply for jobs.

"Though the levels of education among the women in the village have improved, still a lot needs to be done," she added.

One such resident, Sunil Jaglan, said, "I want the nameplate to be in my daughter's name as it will enable men to respect women but more importantly it will enhance the self-respect among the women.

In earlier positive developments, villages in Mewat bordering Gurugram had taken a decision that brides will not be married to those houses which do not have toilets for women.