The third 'Run for the girl child' mini marathon organised by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) witnessed an enthusiastic response with large number of people turning up for the event here today.
The marathon was flagged off by Padmashri awardee and legendary racer Milkha Singh on the campus of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here.
On the occasion, Singh expressed his feelings on the social evil of gender discrimination.
"Whether it be a sage or a king, all have been borne by women. I too have daughters, and it saddens me that people think of daughters as a burden. It is definitely our responsibility to make sure that women succeed in all spheres of life, and I wholeheartedly support IIM-Rohtak's noble initiative," said Singh.
Prof P Rameshan, Director of IIM-Rohtak said: "As a national institute we realise that it is our responsibility to support the social movement against the evils faced by women and girls."
The marathon was organised to raise awareness on gender discrimination, which was the need of the hour considering the fact that India's ranks extremely low in terms of GII (Gender Inequality Index) and Haryana has the lowest sex ratio (879 per 1000 males as per 2011 census) in the country.
The mini marathon included four categories - 3km for children, 5 Km for men, 5 km for women, and 10 km.
The winners for the 3km event were Sachin and Shankar, Meena and Mamta won in the women's category while Vishal and Vinod emerged winners in the men's section.
The winners for the 10 km race were Harishankar Sharma and Devender.
