Vacha Resource Centre Regd. Off.: 5 Bhavna, S. V. Rd, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai 400 056. Tel. 022-2671 3469 Project Off. : Municipal School, Tank Lane, Santacruz, Mumbai - 400054. Tel: 022-2605 5523 www.vacha.org.in , vachamail@gmail.com Dear friends, Warm greetings from Vacha. We have the pleasure of inviting you to a symposium on Girls and Girlhoods titled Girls at Margins –Questioning Constraints, Claiming Future to be held on November 23-24 in Mumbai. The symposium will start with the release of our publication Rights of Adolescent Girls in India : A Critical Look at Laws and Policies by Saumya Uma. All of us are deeply concerned about many disturbing aspects of girls' lives, beyond the alarmingly adverse sex ratio for girls and women. Since gender is an overarching category, there are many layers of girls' marginalisation. Vacha is organizing this symposium to raise issues affecting girlhood in India and to share experiences of some of the groups actively working for girls' empowerment. Your participation will enrich the deliberations and contribute towards creation of useful knowledge and greater understanding of girls’ realities. It will also help us in formulating and responding to strategies adopted by the government as well as by non-government organisations for raising the status of girls in India and facilitating girls' own agency in their empowerment. Apart from scholars and activists, girls from various backgrounds will also participate in sessions and in foyer events. Vacha was established in 1987 and has been active on girls' issues through programmes of empowerment and creation of resources. We do hope you will accept the invitation and enrich the discussions with your inputs. Please inform us asap about your participation as this is essential for logistics. The symposium is at: YMCA, Nathalal Street, Opp. Sakshi Art Gallery, Colaba, Mumbai 5 Sessions will start from 9-30 a.m. Warm regards, Vibhuti Patel, Sonal Shukla with Vacha Team RSVP: Email admin@vacha.org.in / 9833476857 / 9821870625

1. Vacha announces its latest publication
Rights of Adolescent Girls in India : A Critical Look at Laws and Policies
by Saumya Uma, Gender, Human Rights and Law Consultant .
The book critically examines laws, policies and international conventions as
they affect girls in India.
The book will be released at 9-30 a.m. at the inaugural session of the
symposium titled ‘Girls at Margins- Questioning Constraints, Claiming Future’
on November 23, 2012 at Y.M.C.A, Colaba. Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Chairperson,
W omen Power Connect will be Chief Guest and will release the book. Ms.
Nandita Das, actor, film maker and former chairperson of Children’s Film
Society will be present be the Guest of Honour. The author Saumya Uma will
speak about girls rights as human rights and about the book.
Publication of Rights of Adolescent Girls in India : A Critical Look at Laws and
Policies has emerged out of Vacha’s concerns and work on girls’ issues
focusing on the formative years in the second decade of women’s life.
The symposium is organized in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. We
warmly invite you to be present at the book release function and for the
symposium to follow on November 23 – 24. Please do confirm your
participation as that will be necessary for logistics. A note on the symposium
with invite is attached with this.
Looking forward to your participation and confirmation,
Vibhuti Patel and Sonal Shukla with Vacha Team