A garba to save the girl child

AHMEDABAD: From selfie and belly dance themes to a night exclusively for pregnant women, garba organizers in the city are going all out to attract a large crowd to their venues during Navratri. But this venue in Nikol will host garba for a cause.
During the festival which is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Amba, it will focus on saving the girl child by campaigning against the evil practice of female foeticide.
The organizer, Poonam Panchani, said it's the duty of everyone to abolish the evil of female foeticide.

A group doing a rehearsal at the GMDC ground in the city on Sunday evening
"I'll ensure that participants help spread awareness against the practice of female foeticide given the fact that Gujarat has a skewed sex ratio," she said. According to census 2011, Gujarat has 6.29 lakh men over 30 and 40 years in age who are still unmarried. This is a manifestation of the skewed sex ratio in Gujarat which has 919 women per 1,000 men and only 886 girls per 1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group. "It'll surely make an impact on many people when they see parents swirling to garba tunes with their daughters," said Panchani, vice-president of Sadvichar Vikas Sangh, a city-based NGO that works to save the girl child. "At the end of their performance, each participant will make an appeal to the crowd to protect and nurture the girl child."
She said they will also felicitate parents with a single girl child. The event will also see Gujarati actors, Sanjay Morya and Preyasi Nayak, appealing to people to respect the girl child.