Twitter embraces Modi’s #SelfieWithDaughter call, skips grim gender gap

by The Daily Eye Team July 1 2015, 4:14 pm Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 55 secs

Social media platforms were flooded with father-daughter selfies thanks to a message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his monthly radio address on Sunday. “In Haryana, a village Sarpanch initiated a #SelfieWithDaughter initiative. I urge all of you, share a #SelfieWithDaughter. Also share a tagline that will encourage ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’,” said Modi. The NDA government launched the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign in January this year in an effort to tackle the declining ratio of girls to boys aged below 6 years. There has been a decline in the Child Sex Ratio (CSR), defined as number of girls per 1,000 of boys between 0-6 years of age, since 1961. The ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign was launched to prevent gender biased sex selective elimination, to ensure survival and protection of the girl child and ensure her education. The cheerful selfies posted on Twitter with captions like “Meri beti….pyari beti….” and “Daddy-daughters picture time ..!!”, however, hardly had any mention of such a grim reality.