'Nayi Soch' in a new India

We live in a country where mothers are worshipped. Yet, the arrival of a girl-child is often seen as a sad news. We all agree on gender equality, yet women are struggling to be at par with men in both their personal and professional lives.

The concerns are real. Several legal and education documents such as degree certificates demand a father’s name to be filled in. This has led to a lot of problems for divorced and single mothers. It is only recently that the High Court has made it acceptable to fill in only a mother’s name for a passport application, as women protested against the patriarchal system. According to the 2015 United Nations Human Development Report, India was ranked 130th out of 155 nations in the world when it came to gender equality.

In a new initiative that questions societal stereotypes that hold women back, we partnered with the Board of Cricket Control in India. As the official team sponsor of the Indian cricket team at that time, we launched a TV campaign where cricketing heroes became the ambassadors of this new thinking. In the campaign advertisements, the then-Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and star batsmen Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane proudly donned jerseys that had their mothers’ names instead of their own or their fathers’ surnames. What they acknowledged was crucial: their identities were made from their mothers as much as they were from their fathers.

The gesture by India’s most popular sporting heroes was a global first. It may have been a simple act but it challenged old conventions and beliefs, and promoted this crucial agenda.

Gurdeep Singh understood one simple principle: success is not dependent on one’s gender. Success hinges on the quality of one’s thoughts. That’s what we believe too. This to us is 'Nayi Soch' in a new India.