“CII Northern Region has decided to observe the International Women’s Day on 8th March as the Nanhi Chhaan Day for Northern Region every year. The initiative aims at generating an understanding of the issues of an inverse gender ratio and depleting tree cover, as a part of the global arena of women's and environmental issues” said, Mr Pikender Pal Singh, Regional Director, CII Northern Region at the Launch of Nanhi Chhaan Day here today. “Nanhi Chhaan Foundation is a CSR partner of CII and 104 CII member companies have adopted the CII – Nanhi Chhaan policy guidelines for Gender Equality and Ecological Conservation. The voluntary policy urges the industry to sensitize their workforce on both the critical issues and earmark a space in their vicinity to enable to plant saplings to celebrate the birth of girl child. Now that the Nanhi Chhaan Day has been institutionalised, we would further engage with our members to take the cause forward voluntarily”, added Mr Singh.
Mr Man Mohan Singh, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council, while addressing the participants observed “The gender ratio in India, far from stabilizing or self-correcting, has been dropping continuously for years, standing now (as per the last Census) at 927 girls per 1000 boys. 1 out of 5 girl children die before attaining the age of 5. The impact of not recognizing the rights of the girl child is detrimental to all forms of society’s progress, both socially and economically. Also, the rapid deforestation and clearing of land for a variety of purposes has also led to the dwindling of tree cover – causing further problems of soil erosion, loss of habitat, and extreme fluctuations in weather.” “The Nanhi Chhaan initiative seeks to use the strength and adaptability of human faith – religious, spiritual, or rational – to invoke interest and concern about these problems, and provides programs by which individuals as well as organizations can partake in creating sustainable solutions for the same”, he added.
Mrs Meera Bajwa from Nanhi Chhaan Foundation mentioned, “Since the inception of the programme, more than 9.5 Lakh saplings, affecting a population of about 40 Lakh have already been distributed in India. Nanhi Chhaan commits to distributing 10 Lac saplings in Punjab alone through initiatives from many institutions of civil society including educational institutions, places of worship, corporates, NGOs etc. As in the previous years, we intend to engage with multiple stakeholders to partner and achieve our objectives.”
Our commitment is to restore a much-needed balance. By reducing the impact of global warming by encouraging the plantation of trees and the distribution of saplings, the initiative believes that the nurture of each sapling into a tree carries a commitment to respecting the rights of the girl child to a life with dignity and her right to nurture and develop to her fullest potential” said Mr Darpan Kapoor, Vice Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council.
CII in all states of Northern Region takes initiatives to do activities like Sessions on Women Empowerment and Crime Against Women, Distribution of Saplings / Support to the secular agenda of the Nanhi Chhaan campaign by membership across NR States, Session/workshops on Welfare Beyond Workplace and Fight against Female Foeticide.
CII and its member companies under its CSR mandate are always strengthen their engagement with society through various initiatives in the field of Health (HIV/AIDS), Environment, Women Empowerment, Social Entrepreneurship development, CSR mainstreaming, Disability and Adopting village schools promoting Health and Hygiene in villages schools, Education and Employability.
The day was observed with great fervour with an enthusiastic involvement from CII Members & employees. The overwhelming response to this launch across CII Northern Region has made our resolve stronger - to keep on spreading the message of protecting the rights of girl child and our environment. A stall was also set-up for distribution of saplings by Nanhi Chhaan Foundation.