NRIs Rally For 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' In Britain

About 100 Gujarati women living in the UK on Sunday (June 11) came together to spread the message of 'Save the Girl Child'. The group, headed by Bharulata Kamble, undertook a 416 km journey from London to Leicester and back with the message.

The expedition -- named ‘Saree in a Gadi’ -- was kicked off with sounds of dhol and tasha. Kamble, who is at the core of this rally, had also driven 32,000 km solo from the UK to India when she also covered covering Arctic circle and 32 countries. She is the first Indian woman to achieve the feat.

About the event she told TOI, “The message, 'Save the Girl Child', is close to my heart. It's been perceived that Indian women are not active in adventure activities, and I was happy to break that perception through my journey.”

Kamble added, “The event aims to mobilize Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to act as brand ambassadors for the cause and influence their natives in India and elsewhere to support girl children and their education.”

The whole march has been coordinated by Arti Vyas and Sulekah Dawda who took two months to plan it. And members in the rally include Rena Amin, head of women's wing of BAPS temple, Anita Ruparelia, chairperson of Brent Indian Association, and Gull Bilimoria, representative of the Parsi community in the UK, among others.

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The group paid tributes to the victims of London attack before starting with the rally which was flagged off by the MP of Brent Central, Dawn Butler. It started from BAPS Swaminarayan Temple at Neasden, London, and ended at BAPS Swaminarayan Temple at Leicester. The lord mayor of Leicester City Council received the rally.

The rally aimed to talk with the locals and spread awareness about issues related to girls and talk about gender inequality in the world. They also encouraged the locals to join in the discussion of gender-related issues.