Level-playing field for Girls, please!

#Shakti4Beti - a stage show at PRCI Bengaluru event in progress. Pix: DIVYA VENKAT POGARU

As PRCI celebrates Daughters’ Day to commemorate late Indo-US astronaut Kalpana Chawla, here are some random thoughts by M B JAYARAM, Chief Mentor and Chairman Emeritus of the national communicators body

Kalpana Chawla has been inspiration for many girls as she demonstrated to us as to how one reach the sky with hard work, determination and above all focused approach.

All that girls need proper opportunities and you see how they excel.

In this context, let me mention that PRCI has aptly chosen #Shakti4Beti as our focused theme to empower the girl child.

India is a society of contrasts and even contradictions.

On the one hand the society worships deities such as Durga as the symbol of Shakti or triumph of good over evil, and Lakshmi as the Goddess of Wealth, while on the other girls and women are still being subjected to ill-treatment.

Even in the 21^st century, and at a time when India is racing to emerge as an economic super power, it is really sad that women and girls are discriminated against. Gender disparity is still a major socio-economic issue.

Isn’t is a sad commentary on the society in general that we need to have women welfare departments and women rights commission as though they are some endangered species?

 I do not think that many right thinking women would crave for privileges and any special treatment – be it at home, school/college or even at work places.

Girls just want level playing field. PRCI also supports the same thought when wesays Shakti4beti.

Women always excelled if they are given freedom as men and not shackled with anti-women practices.

Apart from mythology, even history has innumerable examples of women doing wonders. Take the case of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, or for that matter freedom fighters such as Sarojini Naidu who were in the forefront of struggle against British tyranny. Kasturba worked silently with Mahatma Gandhi. In post -independent India too women have done as good as men and even better at times.

In education, sports, social service, politics, management, movies, corporate sector – you name it, you have women excelling.

Even at PRCI, we have many women working with their men that too without any inhibitions and issues! In fact, the Daughters Day event at Bengaluru was successfully led several women office-bearers.

But it is still sad that the ratio of women coming out into the open isn’t  very encouraging.

Majority of girls and women are still being relegated to domestic work and the kitchen.

But with increasing education and the society becoming liberal, things should improve and the girl child will get empowered.

I am of the strong opinion that the empowerment begins at home.

Mothers, more than anyone else, should unshackle themselves and treat their daughters on par with boys.

This thought has to be communicated well through various means of communication, including social and traditional media.

I know social media is a double edged sword. I am sure with proper use it will help us cut through the mindset against the girl child.

Shakti4beti will have achieved what it is meant for.

I sincerely hope that we will not have to celebrate daughters’ day specially. We shall work towards observing  a Skill Development or Talent Promotion Day, next year!

But to achieve this PRCI will have to do aggressive communication which I am sure our teams are capable of.

Finally, let me say: Shakti4Society – not mere for Beti!

#Shakti4Beti –campaign to empower girl child

Need to go beyond #BetiBachaoBetiPadhao, 

say communication activists

MUMBAI/BENGALURU, June 15: With #Shakti4Beti as theme  focusing on empowering the girl child, a social communication campaign has been launched.

In an annual event, National communicators body Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) observes July 1 – the official birth anniversary of Indo-US astronaut late Kalpana Chawla – as the Daughters’ Day to draw the attention of the society on issues related to the girl child.

A skit focusing on Daughers being enacted at SIMSR, Mumbai, last July

 “We are inspired by the government’s campaign #BetiBachaoBetiPadhao,” said PRCI governing council chairman B N Kumar. “PRCI is keen that the society goes beyond protecting and educating the girl child. As a democratic, civilized society we must empower the girl child so that she plays a niche role in the nation building activities, Kumar, who is also a social communication activist, said.

“A girl child in India continues to be given a raw treatment,” said PRCI chief mentor and chairman emeritus M B Jayaram. “Be it in rural areas, agriculture fields or even in places of work and bollywood, women have been complaining of discrimination,” he said and stressed that women deserve level playing field.

“How can we even imagine the New India-2022 story without the active involvement of daughters,” asked educationist and chairperson of PRCI’s youth wing Young Communicators Club Geetha Shankar. Enough has been said and written about girls and boys working as equals, but precious little has been done, she said and stressed: “Women do not crave for any favours. Please do not put any obstacles in our growth,” she said.

...at Bengaluru, last year

The campaign launched today will culminate around July 1. Apart from holding events around #Shakti4Beti or #EmpoweringDaughter, PRCI and YCC will hold a series of activities across its chapters in various cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kochi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh mobilizing communication students from universities and colleges to do the messaging.

Contests in debates, short films, photography, poster design, and street play will be held apart from social media campaigns. An online petition addressed to the President of India, Women and Child Welfare Minister and the National Women’s Rights Commission will be launched requesting listing out an agenda towards ensuring a level playing field for the girl child, PRCI said.

Snapshot of Daughters' Day '17 event at Kochi 

ABCD - Aapki Beti Chalayegi Duniya

Daughters’ Day Ideas flourish at Somaiya Vidya Vihar

By SRUJAN MADDULA

We are Daughters - We are Power!

MUMBAI: A Day as Special as its name, the Daughter’s Day, calls for a Special Event.

PRCI and YCC Mumbai, along with Public Relations & Branding Committee and Women Development Cell, KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies, and Research organised ‘Shikshit-BetiSaksham Bharat’ programme on 10^th July 2017 at the Vidyavihar campus, Mumbai.

A total of 24 teams participated in the event out of which 5 teams qualified for the final round.

David Franklin, Vice President of PRCI-Mumbai, Shreya Banda, YCC Cordinator, Aditi Rajani Head of PR and Communications, Somaiya VidyaVihar, Prof. Asha Bhatia,(Head of Enactus Somaiya Social Cell, SIMSR,  Hardeep Singh, Head of Branding, SIMSR, were among those who encouraged the finalists.

AapkiBetiChalayegiDuniya

‘ShikshitBetiSaksham Bharat’ competition started off on a high note and the momentum was maintained by some of the outstanding performances in the form of Advertisement, NukkadNatak, Powerpoint presentation, etc. by the teams. Team AapkiBetiChalayegiDuniya (ABCD) outshone everybody else and went home with the 1^st prize and Team Chaturbhuj stood second displaying a contented and cheerful acceptance.

Every team’s effort was well appreciated by all the judges.   David Franklin pointed out the flaws and scope of improvements as well as appreciated the unparalleled efforts put in by the students. Also the rest of the panellists boosted students’ morale and enlightened the audience with their insightful thoughts.

The aim of the event to spread awareness about Sikshit Beti – Saksham Bharat which the student community and faculty appreciated.

Kudos to Winners!

For picture gallery: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_p_EuwVccQoR2p0XzdyUGhCVkU

PRCI Kolkata salutes Daughters

KOLKATA: Public Relations Council of India, Kolkata, Chapter with its Young Communicators Club organized Daughters’ Day Celebration at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata on Friday, 14th July, 2017. Daughters representing different colleges and the universities in Kolkata and the media fraternity assembled with great enthusiasm and decorated the hall with artistic intimacy and hearty delight. They aptly reflected the words of Bruce Barton: “If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm”.
R. N. Mahapatra, Chief Public Relations Officer, Eastern Railway and Chairman, PRCI, Kolkata Chapter delivered welcome address. He elucidated the importance of daughters in our family and society at large. “There are lots of challenges before the daughters and they have to adequately utilize  opportunities to succeed in any chosen field’” he said.
Saroj Kumar Sadangi, Chief Vigilance Officer, Kolkata Port Trust, Prof. Dr. Tapati Basu, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Calcutta University, Prof. Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee, Communication, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Biswajit Das, Head, Journalism and Mass Communication, Maharaja Manindra Chandra College, were among the guests who attended the event.
In his opening remarks, B. K. Sahu, Chairman, PRCI, Eastern Region, stated that good daughters make good mothers and good mothers make good citizens . Therefore, they should be given equal opportunities which are sometimes neglected. Given opportunities, women can excel.
Biswajit Das, Secretary, PRCI, Kolkata Chapter, said Daughters’ Day celebration is observed to support the cause of increased opportunities for girls and to increase awareness of gender inequality in terms of right to education, access to education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, protection for discrimination, violence against women and child marriage.
Prof. Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee, Communication, IIMC, Dhenkanal as a Guest of Honour spoke about the importance of having a daughter in the family. Parents should not feel that daughters are a burden, but on the contrary, they should realise that they are blessed to have wonderful daughters as their children.
Prof. Dr. Tapati Basu, Premchand Roychand Scholar, former Head, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication who was a Guest of Honour appreciated the implementation of “Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao” programme of Govt. of India and “Kanyashree” programme of Govt. of West Bengal. She advised the daughters to be self-confident and self-reliant. She narrated her own example - how from the beginning of her life she has struggled, won over and ultimately achieved success.
Shri S. K. Sadangi, Chief Vigilance Officer, Kolkata Port Trust, who was the Chief Guest depicted the higher magnitude of Daughters’ Day Celebration. Significantly, he pointed out that Albert Einstein was privileged to enjoy an immense help from his wife, Mileva Maric, during the great research on Theory of Relativity.
YCC member Sonali Chauhan, the first Indian girl student ranking first among Indian students and ranking fourth among the world candidates who was admitted recently into the world-class Florence-based fashion and designing institute was aptly felicitated.
On this occasion,  PRCI Kolkata Chapter website was inaugurated. Shri Sanjoy Kumar Mukherjee, Senior Public Relations Officer, Kolkata Port Trust and Vice Chairman, PRCI, Kolkata Chapter proposed a vote of thanks.

Kerala PRCI honours inspiring daughters

• Educate girls for India’s future, says Sreekumari Ramachandran

ERANAKULAM: The Kerala Chapter of PRCI has celebrated the Daughters’ Day in association with the Ernakulam Press Club, in memory of Indo-US astronaut Kalpana Chawla.

Noted Malayalam litterateur Ms. Sreekumari Ramachandran, who is also a leading  Social worker, was the Chief Guest. In her speech, She stressed the importance of educating girl children for building the future of India with them.

Two achievers, Ms Stephy Zavior and Ms Malu Shaika, were honored on the occasion.

Malu Shaika:  A graduate in commerce, Malu is currently preparing for her Civil Services exam. Residing in a hostel at Aluva, she works as both Insurance Advisor and Driving Instructor.  She can handle Two wheelers as well as and Heavy Vehicles. Malayala Manorama featured her on 19 February 2017 on her achievement of being the first ever girl to swim across the Vembanadu Lake making her popular. It was the situations she faced in real life that motivated her to swim across the Vembanadu Lake. Most girls in our Society either conceal their dreams within or feel they do not have the means to achieve it. Malu believes that if we pursue our ambitions with all sincerity, we can achieve them.

Stephy Zavior:  Stephy Zavior is a bright young talent in Malayalam Industry, who made a mark in the male dominated world of Costume Designing through her fascinating experiments. Stephy, who proved her excellence by being the proud recipient of the last year’s   Kerala state film award, is also the youngest person to get the honour. It is the feature film titled “Guppy” which got her the recognition, She has also received the Abu Memorial Award for Costume Designing.

Stephy, who grew up in a village in Wayanad lost her father at the tender age of 10. From there, inspired by the Hollywood Movie “Titanic”, Stephy went on to conquer all the obstacles and sought a place for herself in the film industry.

Stephy made a name for herself through the brand new experiments, by collaborating with the popular directors and production companies in the South Indian film Industry, after graduating from National Institute of Fashion Technology.

Stephy’s popular works include films such as : Lord Livingston 7000 Kandi, Great Father, Darwinte Parinamam, Luka Chuppi, Guppy, Ezra, Angamaly Diaries.

PRCI Kerala Chapter Secretary T Vinay Kumar welcomed the gathering and explained the importance of Daughters’ Day and the role of PRCI. U S Kutty, Chairman PRCI, Kerala Chapter proposed the vote of thanks. PRCI Kerala Chapter Treasurer P K Natesh, Ernakulam Press Club President K Ravikumar, Secretary S Unnikrishnan were also present.

#Shikshit Beti – Saksham Bharat: Educate Girls – Empower India

An Open Letter To Mass Communication Institutions

Hello Directors of Communication colleges,

As you are aware, the pan-India premier communicators’ body Public relations Council of India (PRCI) and its youth wing Young Communicators’ Club (YCC) have been on an overdrive with Social Communication (or communicating for society).

As part of this endeavour, each year around July 1, we focus on Daughters of India and undertake communication programmes. 

July 1 was the official birthday of  late Indo-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who had an illustrious career and died along with six crew members of the Space Shuttle Columbia which disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, just 16 minutes before landing. Even after her tragic death, Kalpana continues to be a shining example and icon for many girls around the world.

For this year’s Daughers’ Day, we at PRCI have planned the theme - #Shikshit Beti – Saksham Bharat (Educate Girls – Empower India)  focusing on the Role of Educate Girls For India’s Bright Future

Taking forward the Right To Education and Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, PRCI zeroed on to the theme of  #Shikshit Beti – Saksham Bharat to focus attention on Girl Education to make India efficient and capable of realizing its dreams and ensuring progress.

The idea is to communication to the world that the mere Right To Education (RTE) or making primary education compulsory is not good enough. Girls need to move up and go for secondary, higher secondary and college education. Graduation should be the benchmark for both girls and boys to be able to achieve in life. UNICEF sees girl’s education as a lifeline to development.

-Pic from Hindustan Times

The recent relentless struggle by school girls of Gothra Tappa Dahina in Rewari district of Haryana in support of their just demand for higher secondary school in their village has inspired us to launch this communication drive on the theme of education, higher education in particular.

Apart from the necessity to walk for three km to go to higher secondary school in another village, the Rewari girls were subjected to regular eve-teasing, harassment and molestation by ruffians. These girls have won their battle with their determination and grit and the State Government ultimately granted the higher secondary school.

So, let’s salute the spirit of Rewari girls and discuss Role of Educated Girls For India’s Bright Future.

July 1, 2017 falls on Saturday. We planned the following activities involving mainly the communication students with your involvement and support:

.

• Twitter campaign : #ShikshitBetiSakshamBharat – twitter handle @PRCI_NOW
• Facebook comments: on FB pg: https://www.facebook.com/Shikshit-Beti-Saksham-Bharat-117137118883620/
• Essay/elocution/group discussion contests on: Role of Educated Girls For India’s Bright Future.
• Photo/poster contests
• Street Plays/Skits

Select tweets and FB comments, winnings essays, photographs and poters will be carried on PR industry e-mag: PRapport and printed in PRCI special magazine CHANAKYA.

Winners will also get PRCI Certificates.

The new academic year has just begun and let creativity from among the communication students be communicated to the world. PRCI and PRapport (with close 50,000 page views from across the world) provide an ideal platform for this.

We will be happy to meet you for further coordination. Let’s get going right now.

Yours sincerely,

B N KUMAR

National President - PRCI