A Few Good Men

A revolutionist who plants trees each time a girl child is born in his village. An inventor who transformed the world of female personal hygiene. Three brothers who are combating gender-based violence and the trafficking of girls. In a day and age when newspapers are filled with reports on crimes against women, Anika Mohla meets the Indian men who give us heart by fighting the good fight

- Anika Mohla

NEXT GENERATION CHANGE

SUNIL DESAI, Founder, Bindi Project

It was a disturbing article on missing girls he read a decade ago that galvanised Sunil Desai, a former US Marine Corps officer, into action. “I assumed the news item was about human trafficking, but through it, I learned about female foeticide for the first time. I was appalled and ashamed to be connected to a culture in which the preference for sons was so lethal as to have significantly altered the sex ratio. It angered me that my daughter’s life could have been so different, perhaps even non-existent, had my own life path been influenced by this thinking.”

Out of this outrage was born the Bindi Project. Started by Desai in 2012 and registered as a trust in 2016, its priority goal is to end female foeticide and foster love and respect for all women and girls in India. The Project engages fathers of daughters and encourages them to share their stories as examples within their own communities. To spread awareness, it has been holding an annual event since 2014 called Father Daughter Rides, in partnership with Harley Davidson India, every October 11, which is the International Day of the Girl Child.

The Bindi Project is also working to get more men involved in the issue of maternal health by encouraging them to accompany their wives for checkups and prenatal classes, and understand the changes in her body. The 47-year-old Desai says, “Unlike in the US or Europe, where men are expected to be involved throughout pregnancy, childbirth and beyond, in India, most men receive no training about healthy pregnancy, and public hospitals don’t even allow men in labour rooms. We aim to change this by asking men to be more involved in the pregnancy of their wives, and not just take photographs with her.”