Vedanta Group and NDTV have joined hands to promote Girl Child in India through campaign “Our Girls : Our Pride”. The campaign has been launched under Vedanta’s “Khushi” awareness campaign, that is already promoting care for the underprivileged children, their health, nutrition and education.

Priyanka Chopra has been named the Brand Ambassador of the campaign “Our Girl : Our Pride” . The campaign launched on 19th August 2013 in New Delhi, will address key issues like nutrition, education, health, foeticide and infanticide. The focus of the campaign will be to educate people at large, bring awareness, bring policy changes and sensitize people towards girl child and build a respect for the gender.

Looking at India, the country houses the maximum number of children in the world but it is also true that around 50% of child are suffering from malnutrition and the number of girls is large. The ratio of females per 1000 mails has been continuously decreasing since last more than 30 years. There is a conscious need to not only protect the girl child but also bring in dedicated efforts towards their education, nutrition, health and overall development.

The three partners in this campaign are unique in their own fields.

Priyanka Chopra, who has been named as Brand Ambassador for this campaign, has been UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador for India, Priyanka has been actively involved in various causes related to the girl child for many years. She has also personally supported this cause through the ‘Priyanka Chopra Foundation for Health and Education’, which works towards providing support to unprivileged girls across the country in the areas Education and Health.

Vedanta has been pioneering the child welfare campaign in India with a mission to make India a child malnourished free nation. In its effort, since 2008 Vedanta has been associated with government to take care of about 14,000 Anganwadis (child care centres), benefiting more than 500,000 deprived children. The company has also constructed 8 Hi-tech Mid Day Meal Kitchens that provide hot nutritious meal to over 250,000 rural students studying in government schools. Vedanta has adopted many rural schools towards bringing quality of education and strengthening infrastructure.

NDTV has always played an instrumental role in creating awareness about various issues existing in the country through diverse, path breaking initiatives such as Save Our Tigers, Support My School, Marks for Sports and theGreenathonamongst others.

The campaign launch was marked with the presence of Campaign Ambassador – Priyanka Chopra, Dr Prannoy Roy – Co-chairperson NDTV and Anil Agarwal – Chairman Vedanta Group, Dr. Girija Vyas – Minister for Urban Poverty Alleviation, Dr A L Sharada – Programme Director, Population First, Deepak Kalra, Chairperson for Child Rights Protection Committee in Rajasthan and many NGOs and other dignitaries.

Hon’ble Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath addressed the gathering via a live-link and said, “We should respect women in our society because both men and women are equal partners to take out our society forward. According to our Constitution, we have equal rights, so we enjoy equal rights as men and women.”

On being introduced as Campaign Ambassador, Priyanka Chopra, said, “The upliftment of the girl child in India has been a cause that is very close to my heart. In my role as UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador and through my experience with my personal foundation, I understand that while there have been some positive strides being made every day, there is still a serious amount of work that is still left to be done.

I am honoured to be a part of NDTV – Vedanta- Our Girls : Our Pride, which is a wonderful initiative. NDTV has pioneered several successful campaigns in the past, creating a positive change in the lives of many. My personal experience with NDTV on the Greenathon over many successful years gives me the belief that together we can work towards making a sustainable change.

With this initiative we aim to change the lives of many girls and provide them with basic necessities to be able to lead a quality life. I’m looking forward to creating a successful campaign that will give everyone an opportunity to come together in making a better and brighter India for our young girls.”

On this occasion, Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Group, said “Vedanta is committed to partner with all stakeholders, especially community, for a holistic development of India. What we need today is a movement on a war-footing to give our children what is rightfully theirs — a childhood that is not deprived of health, nutrition and education. We all must join hands — individuals, civil society, corporates, media fraternity and the government. We are quite delighted to associate with NDTV and Ms Priyanka Chopra for taking the “Our Girls Our Pride” campaign forward.”

Addressing the audience, Dr. Prannoy Roy, Chairperson, NDTV, said “Perhaps the single most important change we can bring to our country is to invest in our girl children – to focus on their rights and demand their equality in society. Ensuring that every girl child in India achieves her full potential will transform India in a way that no other revolution can. This campaign is a small step in that direction – to raise awareness and to seek concrete steps towards a better India for the girl child.”

‘NDTV-Vedanta – Our Girls : Our Pride’ is yet another attempt to make a noteworthy difference in our world. Apart from sensitizing the masses, the campaign also aims to raise funds to make a positive impact in the lives of as many girls as possible.

Press Release