Updated on: Monday, February 06, 2012
In its effort to highlight the issue of gender disparity in Haryana, infamous for its skewed sex ratio, the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak will be organising a marathon on February 19.
The Rohtak marathon is a part of a series of initiatives taken by the IIM to tackle social issues, an official of the institute said, adding that it is a part of the ongoing campaign- India for girl child.
According to a recent data, released United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ( UN-DESA) for 150 countries over 40 years shows that Indian girl child aged 1-5 years is 75 per cent more likely to die than an Indian boy.
The two-year-old institute has been involved extensively in various social welfare initiatives in association with NGOs such as Etasha Society, iCare, India Earth NGO, Srishti Gyaan Kendra, Ch Lakhi Ram Anaathalaya and Jan Seva Sansthaan.
"The city marathon will be a mainstream sports event. We are planning to organise a marathon every year and are expecting participation from people of Haryana and Delhi-NCR region.
"Rohtak has an enduring sporting culture that can be leveraged to connect people, raise awareness about social issues, and find sustainable solutions through collaborations," said Pritam Agarwal, member of PR cell of the IIM.
He said that this year Apollo Tyres and Biowell Natural Health have signed up as the official running and health partner respectively for the two races (5 km and 10 km).
"During the event, IIM Rohtak, in partnership with the Sun foundation, will be announcing need based scholarships for 100 girls to cover their educational expenses incurred over twelve years from Class I to Class XII.
"This announcement will take the 'India for girl child' campaign one step further and will open up new possibilities," said Pritam.
"The marathon will be a defining moment in Haryana's history, as IIM Rohtak attempts to create awareness about a burning issue.
"Haryana has a skewed sex ratio of 826:1000," said Priyadarshee, a student of the IIM, adding that the marathon would serve as a platform where all these objectives can be achieved.