Payal Jangid, a young crusader who saves daughters

Jangid was 12 when she rebelled against an age-old tradition that forced girls to marry at that tender age.
Payal Jangid received the prestigious Changemaker award in New York.
Payal Jangid received the prestigious Changemaker award in New York.

RAJASTHAN: Then Payal Jangid received the prestigious Changemaker award in New York from the Bill Gates Foundation in 2019, the 17-year-old felt her whole life floating before her like water bubbles – full of energy, yet capable for bursting any moment into nothingness.

Jangid was 12 when she rebelled against an age-old tradition that forced girls to marry at that tender age. Since then, she has managed to rescue dozens of girls in her village Hilsal in Alwar district, Rajasthan. However, her

Early activism days

Jangid ventured into child rights’ activism as a Class 5 student. She had heard a social activist from Bal Ashram in Virat Nagar, an NGO that works for child rights, talk about the toxic practices of child marriage and child labour.

The activist had counselled panchayats against these practices and set up a Bal Panchayat (Children’s Parliament) in 2012 in Alwar.

After getting elected as the sarpanch of the Bal Panchayat in 2013, Jangid spread awareness about the importance of educating children. Working in close association with Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan, her village became the focal point of crusading against child labour and marriage.

“With 11 members of the Children’s Parliament, we started raising our voice against the ban on child labour and child marriage around the village. As most of the girls were pushed into child labour, farming and household work, nobody was sending their daughters to school to complete their studies,” says Jangid.

Her real fight began against her own family in 2014. her parents wanted Jangid and her elder sister to get married. Jangid, then all of 12 years, went on a hunger strike and reached out to Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation for help. Sumedha Kailash, wife of the Nobel laureate, was able to convince her parents about dangers of child marriage and the need for educating their daughters.

The change in the parents as well as grandparents’ attitude encouraged Jangid to lead the fight against child marriage and child labour. Spreading awareness in the village about child rights in the neighbouring villages, Jangid’s Bal Panchayat provides advice to adults through campaigns, rallies, posters and other such awareness initiatives.

Constant encouragement

“We go to nearby villages, government and private schools. In the beginning, we faced a lot of hostility, with many villagers even complaining about spoiling their daughters with radical ideas,” she says.

When some girls did succumb to family pressures, Jangid and her team would do a home visit to educate the elders and dissuade them from ruining their daughters’ lives. “Many elderly women, who were victims of child marriage, reached out and joined us. Their voices carried immense weight in most society quarters, mainly in the neighbouring schools.”

Through her efforts, almost all the children in Alwar are committed to attending school and completing their education. She says child marriage is fast becoming a thing of the past here. The state government has made Jangid the brand ambassador of Alwar’s ‘Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao’ programme, and her efforts are bearing fruit.

When the former US President Barrack Obama and his wife Michelle visited India in January 2015, they met with Jangid and Satyarthi at Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi.

In September 2019, she won the Changemaker Award. “The recognition encouraged me to dedicate my efforts towards ensuring that children the world over are free from any form of exploitation,” says Jangid.

Jangid’s parents are overjoyed by her success. “Payal has made our family proud. I desist child marriage and child labour, and I regularly persuade other parents to send their children to school,” says Pappuram, Jangid’s father.

Changemaker’s date with the Obamas

Through child acitivist Payal Jangid’s efforts, almost all the children in her hometown of Alwar are committed to attending school and completing their education. She observes that the concept of child marriage is fast becoming a thing of the past here. The state government has made Jangid the brand ambassador of Alwar’s ‘Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao’ programme, and her efforts are bearing fruit. She also got to meet Barrack and Michelle Obama during their 2015 visit to New Delhi. In September 2019, she won the Changemaker Award.

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