Saving the girl child: 8,760 artistes dance into record books

Over 8,000 artistes Tuesday performed a folk dance in this town to highlight the message of saving the girl child and created a record for the largest voluntary participation in an event at one point of time, organisers said.

"A total of 8,760 dancers, comprising girls and women, performed a folk dance to save the girl child at the Kullu Dussehra festivities," Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kanwar, the organiser of the festival, told IANS.

He said a large number of unregistered participants also took part in the dance.

"As per our estimate, between 9,000 and 10,000 artistes participated," Kanwar said.

He said Limca Book of Records officials witnessed the event.

"We will send recordings of the dance to the Limca Book of Records for our claim to the largest voluntary participation at one place," he said.

The previous record, Kanwar said, was a performance by around 3,500 people.

He said on the invitation of the district administration, women and even girls from the entire Kullu district voluntarily agreed to participate in the performance.

The week-long Kullu Dussehra festivities, which began Oct 3, will conclude Oct 9.

Kullu Dussehra is a centuries-old festival and celebrations begin on "Vijaya Dashami", the day when the festivities end in rest of the country.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who witnesses the folk dance along with his cabinet colleagues, said this was a remarkable performance and definitely a strong message to those who commit the sin of killing the unborn girl foetus in the womb.

The chief minister later administered the pledge of saving the girl child to thousands of women present on the occasion. He said discrimination against the girl child would not be tolerated.

He said the need of the hour is to empower the womenfolk for a better tomorrow.