Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday, 25 May 2026, paid tribute to the 'Selfie With Daughter' campaign, calling it a people's movement that transcended its origins as a local social media initiative to become a global campaign for the dignity and empowerment of daughters.

Context

In his post, Khattar highlighted the campaign's roots, writing: 'कुछ अभियान समय के साथ जनआंदोलन बन जाते हैं' ('Some campaigns become people's movements over time'). He credited Sunil Jaglan, former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Jind district, Haryana, as the man who started what grew into a globally recognised drive for respecting and celebrating daughters. The minister described the campaign as 'not merely a medium of a photograph or technology, but a powerful effort to establish the honour, acceptance, and dignified place of daughters in society.'

Jaglan launched the Selfie With Daughter initiative from Bibipur around 2014, encouraging fathers and families to share photographs with their daughters on social media. The campaign received state-level support and was later cited within broader national women-empowerment frameworks, resonating with audiences well beyond Haryana.

Policy Backdrop

The campaign emerged against the backdrop of Haryana's historically skewed child sex ratio, a concern that prompted both legal enforcement against sex-selective practices and community-driven awareness efforts across the state. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, launched by the Government of India in January 2015, initially covered 100 districts including several in Haryana, and provided an institutional framework that complemented grassroots initiatives like Selfie With Daughter.

Since the early 2010s, central and state governments have combined regulatory action with digital and community campaigns in states reporting skewed child sex ratios. Haryana, alongside Punjab and parts of Rajasthan, has been a focal state for such interventions. Khattar noted that sustained social awareness and public participation of this kind have contributed to 'a notable improvement in the gender ratio in Haryana today.'

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of campaigns such as Selfie With Daughter are rural families in Haryana and girl children across communities where son-preference has historically been pronounced. By anchoring the message in a simple, shareable act — a selfie — Jaglan's initiative lowered the barrier for ordinary families to publicly affirm the value of their daughters, creating a visible social norm shift.

Khattar's acknowledgement from a national ministerial platform amplifies the campaign's legacy and signals continued political will behind women's empowerment messaging. The minister framed the spirit of honouring daughters as 'giving society a new direction,' linking local community action to a broader civilisational aspiration.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to forthcoming data releases — including the next round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) or the Sample Registration System (SRS) — which will offer a statistical measure of how far Haryana's child sex ratio has moved. Analysts and policymakers will also watch whether community campaigns of this kind are formally integrated into the next phase of centrally sponsored women-empowerment programmes, potentially giving them renewed institutional momentum.