Rajasthan girl Payal Jangid gets Changemaker Award from Gates Foundation

Payal Jangid speaks at the GoalKeepers Global Goals Awards in New York on Tuesday. (Twitter/@k_satyarthi)

Payal Jangid, a girl from Rajasthan, received the Changemaker Award at the Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards on Tuesday in recognition of her campaign to end child labour and child marriage. She was presented the award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jangid, who fought against her own marriage at a young age, is now campaigning to discourage child marriage and persuade parents to keep their children in education.

Her campaign includes organising rallies, putting up posters, paining walls and going door-to-door to speak to families on the same.

“We had to work hard to make the elders realise that they were prohibiting us from getting our education,” she said. “I want every child in the world without education to be helped, and given a chance,” she said.

Payal Jangid received the Changemaker Award at tonight’s Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards. This award recognizes her campaign to end child labor and child marriage. pic.twitter.com/OV3U16ERmF

— Gates Foundation (@gatesfoundation) September 25, 2019

Her father Pappuram Jangid claims her initiative has seen a drastic drop in child marriages. “She has brought major improvement; almost all kids are going to school now. There hasn’t been child marriage in the village in the last decade,” he said.

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi Wednesday congratulated Jangid for her achievement. “Sumedha ji and I are so proud & moved to watch our daughter Payal receiving Changemaker Award from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation now in New York. She refused her marriage and her entire village was free from child marriages & labour,” he said.

Payal with Kailash Satyarthi (Twitter/@k_satyarthi)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the recipients of the Global Goalkeeper Awards this year for his government’s initiatives on sanitation, including the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

“This honour is not mine but of the crores of Indians who not only fulfilled the Swachh Bharat dream but also made it a part of their daily lives,” PM Modi had said while accepting the award.