Republic Day 2023: You’ve got to hand it to them!

Issues such as female infanticide gender inequality discrimination sexual abuse and violence continue to bother civil society But despite all such odds young girls from Mumbai and some remote villages of Maharashtra are quietly making a name for themselves On 74th Republic Day today these girls lay the foundation for New India midday highlights their inspirational storiesSlum girls football teamIn Rahul Nagar slum at the Bandra reclamation a small revolution of sorts is taking place through sport Every Sunday morning a group of young girls between the ages of 13 and 20 years make their way to the nearby Rizvi Ground for football practiceA girlsrsquo cricket team at Nalgir village in LaturKalamuddin Idrisi a project coordinator at Habitat and Livelihood Association HALWA supported by CRY for the girlsrsquo football said ldquoWe have 40 girls playing football and most of them are from Rahul Nagar and Lal Mitti slum pockets at Bandra reclamation We also have an old batch of 15 students whom we are registering with the Mumbai District Football Association MDFA so that they can play district level matches for the first timerdquoAlso Read India to be hit as pharma giant pulls plug on AIDS vaccineSixteenyearold Afreen Bano Mohammed Anis Shaikh one of the girls plays as a left back A Std 10 student at Anjuman E Islam Afreen is the second of three siblings and their father works as a barber while their mother is a housewife ldquoPeople have tried to stop me from playing football They pass comments and abuse and body shame me But I ignore them I want to become a professional football playerrdquo she saidVillage girls turn cricketerLatur is synonymous with two wordsmdashdrought and child marriage But at Nalgir village in Udgir block cricket is empowering girls According to 15yearold Apoorva Nadarge who studies in Std 9 there was a clear distinction between the games the girls and boys played ldquoMost of the games that we girls played were either only indoors or near the house Once our teacher told us about Mithali Raj who became the first woman cricketer to score 10000 runs and has been playing cricket for almost 23 years So we thought cricket is not just a game for boys but we can play it too We started playing it seriouslyrdquo said NadargeAfreen Bano Mohammed Anis Shaikh 16ldquoWe were subjected to taunts and barbs But we did not give in Soon we started receiving some positive comments from boys Now more and more people are talking positively about us playing the gamerdquo said 16yearold Sheetal PawarThe kabaddi teamGirls in rural Wardha district have started taking an interest in kabaddi which is traditionally dominated by boys A local NGO SwarajyaMitra has been supporting themAll 18 villages in the district have at least 10 adolescent girls regularly practicing the game Chanchal Avathale a Std 10 student from Gaurkheda village one of the girls said ldquoNajuk rahnyat sundarta nahi majbut rahnyat sundarta aherdquo Beauty is not in staying delicate staying strong is beautyMallakhamb champJanhavi Suresh Jadhav 20 of Dahanu is a national level Mallakhamb player and in the final year of Bachelor of Accounting and Finance from ML Dahanukar College ldquoI have played in 8 state level competitions and 6 national level competitions and also won individual medals in them My dad works as a machine operator and my mother provides tiffinsMallakhamb player Janhavi Jadhav has played in 8 state level competitions and 6 national level competitions and won individual medals in themMy younger sister is studying in Std 9 We have faced a lot of financial problems Still my parents manage the budget for our studies and competitions Recently I participated in Khelo India Games 2021 and won a gold medalrdquo she saidJanhavi got selected for the All India InterUniversity Championship 2023 Aligarh Uttar Pradesh which started on January 22Boxing her passionAradhana Gound 17 is a college student and lives in Asiarsquos second biggest slum Malwani in Mumbai From childhood Aradhana was passionate about boxing and Mary Kom is her inspiration She played at state and national level but due to financial constraints she was unable to pursue boxing further Aradhanarsquos father is a tailor and mother is a homemaker She hopes for financial support to continue with boxingAcademics acedBut itrsquos not that girls are only shining on the sports field They are also going ahead in academics Anchal Patel 17 cracked the NEET exam and got a seat in a government medical college Sadly she lost her father a rickshaw driver while taking the competitive exam Patel is the youngest of four sisters of whom only the oldest worksFrom the slums of Golibar in Santacruz East to the Government Homoeopathic Medical College in Virar Atiya Umme Khan 20 has shown what sheer determination can lead toShe has also cracked the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test NEET without any coaching and secured 77 per cent She is the youngest of three siblings whose father works in a garageldquoI was getting a seat in a private medical college but we could not afford the fee and hence took admission in a government medical college where the fee was R65000 and my parents had to take a loan They have been supportive as I am the only one in my family to study wellrdquo she saidNGOs former player speakKreeanne Rabadi Regional Director CRYWest said ldquoSport can be a force to amplify the voices of girls and can tear down gender barriers It also helps build selfesteem and leadership thinking There are many girls across CRY projects who have overcome such challenges and have the selfbelief to step out of their homes and play sportsrdquoBindu Prasad Unnithan a former national football player said she understands what these girls are going through ldquoI was fortunate to have supportive parents but in the place where I grew up Sawaimadhopur in Rajasthan I had to face societal challenges and threats as locals had a prejudice and a stereotypical mindset They believed that girls and women need to be inside the house as per their religious and traditional belief But over time I was able to bring a change and have a womenrsquos football teamrdquoDr Narayan AB Iyer CEO of Indian Development Foundation said ldquoThese girls are proof that poverty is not a crime Discomfort zones and debilitating situations are the catalyst that provide OTP in life Opportunity To Perform and the best comes from withinrdquo