Sunshine story: Hamlets in Maharashtra will now bear nameplates of girl child

Shraddha Sanjay Shinde, 12, at her home in Malkheda village. Pics/Suresh Karkera

When Aditi Paimode from Angangaon in Yeola, Nashik, asked her father to put her name on the entrance of their dwelling, little did she know that the request would inspire him to launch a women-empowerment campaign in Maharashtra.

"The sticker makes me feel special," says Aditi, 8, whose name has been plastered on the door since 2016. In a bid to boost self-confidence among girls and promote literacy, Aditi's father Gyaneshwar Paimode, a zilla parishad school teacher, has been shelling out money to motivate people to paste stickers with the names of daughters on their doors.

Let's celebrate
According to Paimode, 36, the process of naming is nothing short of a joyous event. "We reach the house with musical instruments, and then sing and dance. After presenting flowers to the girl and her parents, we request them to paste the name sticker on the door," he says. The campaign has managed to reach 59 schools across three districts - Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and Yeola - with over 6,000 stickers being successfully put up.

Gyaneshwar Paimode with his colleague Gyaneshwar Badgar from Bhingare village who has been assisting him in this campaign

Till date, Paimode has spent over Rs 35,000 from his savings for the campaign. "Before we launched the campaign, there was no culture of nameplates in these villages," he says.

The idea came to him after watching his daughter's reaction when his brother named his grocery shop 'Aditi's general store'. He recalls the days when she would simply visit the shop and stare at the nameplate and smile. "She then requested me to do the same. I immediately wrote her name on a cardboard and pasted it on our door. But I didn't want to limit it to my household," says Paimode, who then decided to launch it into a full-fledged campaign.

More the merrier
Although the initiative began with Malkheda Zilla Parishad School where Paimode works, the ripples are being felt in neighbouring villages. In Bhingare village, 90 km from Nashik, a modest brick dwelling bears the name of 11-year-old Dhanshree Gade and her younger sister Kalyani. Interestingly, it was their grandmother Gayabai who was the driving force in ensuring the nameplates were up. "Girls are stronger and show more fortitude during crisis.

I say it out of experience. So, we need to upgrade their status," she says. But Gayabai belongs to a minority. Discrimination against girl children was a reality until recently, adds Paimode. "There was a family with four girls. When we went to put the nameplate at their residence, their mother Sangita Karbharikare broke down, because she was accustomed to taunts for not bearing a son. It was the first time that somebody was celebrating having daughters," Paimode said.

Printed on white paper, the stickers are standardised in size and lettering as it is manufactured in bulk at his friend's printing shop. At Malkheda, 12-year-old Shraddha Shinde's name is embossed on a plywood plate. Inspired by the gesture, her uncle Ashok Shinde, too, has put up the nameplate of his 20-year-old daughter Akshada. "She's married now, but chose to carry the nameplate to her in-laws' place," laughs Ashok.

Struggle for funds
Currently, Paimode provides the stickers for Rs 5 each. His dream is to provide steel or wood nameplates, but is finding it difficult due to shortage of funds. He hopes for government support in extending the campaign to more villages. For now, he has been participating in education fairs to spread the message. "The next step is to approach private schools and colleges," he says.

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