Giving wings to little girls

VADODARA: At an age when youngsters are full of dreams and aspirations and worried about realizing them, this 23-year-old M S University student is helping thousands of girls finding theirs. Nishita Rajput, with the help of her father Gulab Rajput, has mobilised funds to educate nearly 8,000 girls in the last five years.
This year alone, the father-daughter duo is funding 5,100 girls, of which they have adopted 151 girls - for whom they also sponsor clothes.The social work student is also planning to start a scheme to support the girls who pass out their standard 12 and pay for their college education.
"I used to accompany my father when he would visit orphanages or government schools. I always wanted to take my father's effort to the next level. When I started college and could give the girls the time they deserved, we began sponsoring them. We started with 351 girls and have come so far," Nishita told TOI.
According to Gulab, who owns a shop of handicrafts in the old city area, his daughter has made him proud. "For every problem that we associate with girls, right from - female infanticide to early marriages - can be solved with education. Once a girl educates herself and realises her own worth she would not settle for something that would undermine her," he told TOI.
Nishita has also helped many donors sponsor girls from underprivileged families from across the city. "A lot of the girls are forced to drop out of their schools because their families cannot afford to send them to school. They are not against education in its basic sense. So when we assure them that their all the academic expenses will be taken care by the sponsor, they do not object," she added.
Nishita now plans to help the mothers of the girls he supports. "We will launch a trust which will train them in a skill of their choice. We will also identify shops that will provide them a discount based on an identity card," she said, adding, "Once women are confident and learn to hold their own in the world, it will solve a lot of issues."