"Empowering the Beti” A Great Initiative: Shivanand Hulyarkar.

Published: Fri Mar 09 2018


We celebrate Women’s Day on 8th March every year. This year, let us also celebrate with an NGO which has been dedicatedly working towards embracing those women who were shunned by society for no doing of theirs. Beti, a movement is an initiative by Anu and Shashi Ranjan for women who have been victim to acid attacks, rape, child abuse, and other such extreme atrocities. It relentlessly pursues gender-equality, empowerment of women and other endeavors for restoring dignity to these hapless victims. Beti is an offshoot of the Indian Television Academy and is in existence for 10 years. The organization conducts various awareness and fundraiser events like fashion shows and the Gr8! Women Awards with some well-known names from the Television and Bollywood fraternity including Barkha Bisht, Mouni Roy, Karan Grover, Sushmita Sen and Akshay Kumar supporting it.

Mr. Shivanand Hulyalkar, a senior Congress leader from Pune was recently part of an event hosted by Beti. The event, attended by the Who’s who from Pune, showcased celebrities walking the ramp with their daughters. When asked about his opinion about Beti, Mr. Hulyalkar said, "Beti has a noble aim, that of creating awareness about the issues like female foeticide, acid attacks, sexual assault and other oppressive activities happening to women every single day. Women need to be empowered and made confident to fight back if they have been wronged. Many times, women don’t speak up and end up suffering in silence. The silence can be broken only with making women feel that they too have a voice and power to demand justice." Speaking about the kind of events organized by NGO Beti and the response they garner, Shivanand Hulyalkar spoke fiercely in support of the work Beti has been doing over the years for womankind. " When a 27-year-old, Ms. Sonali Mukherjee from Dhanbad fell prey to an acid attack and the Government refused to intervene, Ms. Anu Ranjan raised Rs. 22 lakh for her hospitalization through Beti. Now, Sonali is happily married. In the case of Ms. Shabina Khan, a child abuse victim, Beti and Anuji helped her overcome her situation, raised funds and even gave her career advice which helped her find a job at IOSIS MEDISPA. Today she draws a decent salary and happily supports her loved ones. I would like to congratulate Beti for both these achievements and wish that they keep contributing to society in the same manner in the years to come."

The Government has a special role to play in changing the skewed mindset of families with respect to the birth of a girl child, and in awarding justice to scores of female victims hoping every day for a verdict in their favor. It is upon the shoulders of the Government to implement more initiatives that cater to the girl child. Firstly, measures should be taken to improve the sex ratio and secondly, to encourage the good health and higher education of the girl child. Only then can our nation truly succeed, he opines.
Contact Name: shivanandhulyalkar
Contact Email: shivanandhulyalkar02@gmail.com

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