Actors Rasika Duggal, Girija Oak join MukkaMaar’s Women’s Day to celebrate fighting spirit of girls

MukkaMaar celebrated women’s day with more than 1000 girls at PA Mhatre Sports Ground - Juhu, Mumbai. MukkaMaar, a non-profit organization helmed by Ishita Sharma, who stands by the young girls and trains them with self-defense tactics, encourages each life to stand up for themselves and inculcates the thought of, ‘You Are Not Alone.’ To make women's day special for the young girls, the event HarBaarMukkaMaar was curated to celebrate their learnings and to have them participate in a healthy competition being witnessed by their favourite celebrities. Girls from 36 government schools participated and showcased their skills through five-minute performances. In the contest Akurli Municipal School Kandavali East was the winner, D N Nagar Municipal School Andheri Westand Gundavli Municipal SchoolAndheri East was the first and second runner-up.

Since 2018, MukkaMaar has been partnering with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools to empower young girls, and their joint efforts have already impacted around 16,000 girls.

Marathi actress Girija Oak along with Rasika Duggal and Nirali Bhatia were the judges for the competition. The event also featured a special performance by Satyajit Padhye, adding to the excitement and inspiration of the day. Siddhi Tambe delivered a powerful performance as part of Welspun's Super Sport Women, which was truly impressive. The event was graced by Dilip Joshi, RithvikDhanjani, and many more who attended to support the young girls.

Ishita Sharma, Founder & CEO, MukkaMaar added, “Our Women’s Day event started in 2017, and after a 2 years break we are happy that it’s back. The event also marks 5 years of our association with BMC Education Department and the work that we are doing together to empower girls. We are committed to continuing our work in Mumbai and aim to work with 10K girls in Mumbai, by 2025. Our girls are breaking barriers every day, and we can slowly start to witness glimpses of an equitable world.”

Raju Tadvi, Education Officer, says “MukkaMaar has been working relentlessly to empower the adolescent girls in BMC for 5 years now, and we have seen the impact of their work. Because of their new approach to self-defence training, which is more holistic, rooted in research and delivered by an excellent team, we have seen that girls get stronger, bolder and are able to speak up for themselves. We are happy to associate with the team and commit to ensuring that girls in schools are safe.”

Dilip Joshi, who is popularly known as and loved as Jethalal in the hit TV show Taarak Mehta Ka UltaChashma said, “The mission of Mukkamaar is something I wholeheartedly support, and it's important for us all to come together and support this initiative. Some sections of society believe that if they have a girl child, then she should stay home and take care of household chores, instead of going out and following her dreams. MukkaMaar has helped many such girls by giving them a platform and supporting them to come out and build themselves, and learn self-defense, along with everything that is needed to develop their personality them to stand on their own feet. MukkaMaar is a very noble initiative and they are working for the betterment of society. I would like to congratulate them and urge the families and parents of every girl child who are not a part of MukkaMaar, to enroll in this initiative for a better future for their girl child.”

MukkaMaar has demonstrated its commitment to the UN theme for Women's Day, DigitALL, by showcasing innovation, technology, and gender equality. The launch of 'POWER with Mukki' last year, coinciding with the International Day of the Girl Child, underscores the NGO's dedication to empowering girls through its research and interventions.