Because I am a Girl

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An unusual anthology with seven of India’s well-known personalities from varied fields coming together for one common cause, to tell the story of girls in India. Description: Because I am Girl is a collection of seven stories of seven girls from different parts of India who fought with their situation and tried to empower themselves. With an Introduction by Govind Nihalani and written by personalities from all walks of life—writers, actors, artists, and TV stars—the stories try to capture their struggles, their dreams, and how they keep hope alive in their lives. Anjum Hasan visits a village in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, where young girls are forced to become sex workers. Pooja Bedi goes to Lucknow and meets a woman who gets an ultrasound done but then decides against killing her unborn baby girl. Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan travels to Hyderabad where she meets a young girl who comes to the city, learns data entry and finds herself a job. Shahana Goswami meets a young school drop-out who has done a beautician’s course, and plans to set up her own parlour. Namrita Bachchan tells the story of a young girl who sells vegetables in the male-dominated Delhi’s Govindpuri sabzi mandi during the wee hours of the morning and then learns to read and write during the day. Nafisa Ali Sodhi writes about a young girl in Delhi, who works as a rag picker but is a bright young student. Aditi Rao Hydari encounters a woman whose husband died of tuberculosis and who is training to be a nurse now while being an apprentice in a hospital.

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This anthology is published in collaboration with Plan India, one of the oldest and largest children’s development organizations. ‘Because I am a Girl’ is Plan’s global campaign designed to fight gender inequality, promote girls’ rights, and lift millions of girls out of poverty.