New Delhi: The double wedding of sisters Damini and Chanchal on Sunday had a special tweak: Nine pheras instead of the usual seven. The extra two were against female foeticide and for the environment – necessary reminders for their hometown Jind, known more for its skewed sex ratio.
While Haryana as a whole suffers from skewed sex ratio, in Jind, candidates in this year’s Lok Sabha and the recently held assembly election were turned away because they had not been able to help the local young men get brides.Â
The idea came from Damini and Chanchal’s father Jagdeep Singh, who had been inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Clean India campaign.
And it didn’t stop there. Singh, who is a local environmental campaigner, had a special wedding present for his daughters.Â
“I gave 12 saplings to each of them, so a new kind of movement can be started,” he said.
“We hope it really sends out the right kind of message. I really like what dad decided,” said Damini.