'Selfie with daughter' goes viral

CHANDIGARH: Almost a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised his idea of 'selfie with daughter,' the former sarpanch of a village in Jind, Sunil Jaglan, has got a website developed for an online museum with a capacity of 10 lakh selfies.

The website http://selfiewithdaughter.world - launched by Haryana health minister Anil Vij - got a good response, with more than 13,000 visitors in just a few hours of it going online on Thursday, while the union ministry of women and child development is sharing its link on social media.

Vij posted a selfie with his niece Bharti on the website, which is being stated as the world's first such online museum for selfies with daughters.

Jaglan had organized a 'selfie with daughter' contest in June 2015, when he was heading the village panchayat of Jind's Bibipur village.

According to the former sarpanch, the contest was conducted in the same month, but he is still receiving 'selfies with daughter' on his Whatsapp account.

"The craze for the campaign can be estimated from the fact that I have received as many as 8,000 selfies in the past one year. Many of these came from abroad, including USA and Germany," says Jaglan.

"The people even asked me to share the selfies on a Facebook page. Such a response inspired me to develop a website where people can upload and see their selfies anytime in the future," he adds.

According to the sarpanch, there will be an option of clicking on the website page for a print of the selfie.

"The user will be able to find a print of the selfie, automatically signed by the state health minister for the initial three days. Later, there will be automatic signatures of other prominent personalities, including women boxers from Haryana on the print," says the former sarpanch, who is engaged with 'Save the girl child' campaign for the past five years.

Jaglan (33) says that the concept of 'selfie with daughter' was launched to motivate parents to feel proud of their daughters in a gender-biased society.

He had first come in the limelight when he succeeded in bringing leaders of over 100 khaps on one platform in July 2012 to take a pledge for fighting female foeticide.