Star Suvarna, one of the leading entertainment Kannada channel join hands with Child Rights and You (CRY) to support girl child education. The channel is going a step ahead by focusing on gender bias through their new TV show Mounaraga. The program is an upcoming fiction show which speaks about gender equality and voices out against the female foeticide in the country.
CRY has been working tirelessly in the domain of child rights for the last four decades. Around 2.39 lakh girls aged less than five year die every year in India while almost 1.2 crore of Indian girls have been aborted since 1981, such is the sad state of the ‘Girl Child’ in our country. To address the criticality of the situation, Star Suvarna’s has come to the fore and contributed Rs 6,00,000 towards to CRY to support the girl child campaign while launching the new show-Mounaraga.
“It is important for responsible TV shows like Mounaraga to raise awareness on crucial social issues like foeticide – which are hidden, rarely discussed, but very prevalent, and other issues such as child labour, child marriage. These are issues which also need to be dealt with sensitivity, and compassion. We are really happy that Star Suvarna has come forward to highlight violations towards children, to emphasise the need to give children a childhood, educate them so that they are able to break out intergenerational poverty. We would also like to thank them for their contribution towards girl child education and for joining hands with us in our endeavour to make a lasting change in the lives of children,” said Suma Ravi, Regional Director (South), CRY.
“Star Suvarna is making a small attempt to propagate the cause by condemning female foeticide and girl child discrimination. We are bringing a story to make people more empathetic towards the cause also raise awareness on some critical issues” said Sai Prasad – Business Head, Star Suvarna.
Mounaraga is the story and struggle of a girl who survives female foeticide but is born mute. Deprived of father’s love and affection even before her birth, for being a girl child and mute Raga faces the hardship of life every day.
In support of gender equality, the channel has also started a campaign called #letherlive on social media. Parents are urged to tag a picture of them with their daughters using the #letherlive. Several successful female celebrities of Kannada film Industry have come forward to show their support for the cause. Stalwarts like Sudharani, Haripriya, Sudha Belavadi, Samyuktha Hornad, Mayuri have shown their support by speaking about the #letherlive campaign. The campaign has already garnered huge support from television viewers.