A laadli takes fight against female foeticide to Mt Everest

YAMUNANAGAR: While girls of her age dream of life partner or career pursuits, Sumita Singh's aim is different -- to launch a crusuade against female feticide and underage marriages. So determined was the this BSc final year student, she espoused her mission even on Mount Everest on Saturday afternoon.
Along with the tricolour, Sumita hoisted banners carrying slogans against underage marriages and female foeticide, at 2.45 pm on Saturday.Hailing from Gurjar Majri village of Rewari, a district known for its backwardness, Sumita Singh, the only girl child of Jauhri Singh, a non-gazatted officer (NGO) of Border Security Force (BSF), is student of BSc (sports science) in Guru Nanak Khalsa College here.
"We know the kind of problems a girl child face in Haryana, especially backward areas like Rewari. Forget sports like mountaineering, girls of our village were not allowed to pursue higher education. Thankfully, my parents never discouraged me as we lived at many places due to the transferable job of my father. This is how I was able to go through an advanced course in mountaineering," Sumita said while reiterating her commitment to intensify her fight against skewed sex ratio and underage marriages.
Member of a team of 12 mountaineers, Sumita is the fourth Indian woman to conquer Mount Everest. Though upbeat about her achievement, her father expressed dismay over the dismal role of Haryana government in encouraging such students.
"Generally, Haryana government gives a financial aid of Rs 3 lakh. But we could not get this and had to arrange the entire expenses, which worked out to be close to Rs 25 lakh, on our own. What we want is that she must get her due, keeping in mind her qualifications and achievements," Jauhri Singh said.
Meanwhile, celebrations were on in her college and teachers and staff could be seen complementing each other on the achievement of their student. "She remained a promising student ever since she entered the college. She was ready to take any risk or risky test. She is among those who passed NCC-B certificate with merit," Dr Virender Kaur, principal of Sumit's college said.