ALLAHABAD: The UNICEF and the Global Interfaith Wash Alliance (GIVA), an organisation of Parmarth Niketan , have joined hands to break a Guinness record of highest number of signatures on a flag to promote a drive against child marriage The present record is of 1,15, 405 signatures on a flag signed by people from all the 54 states of the US.Here at Kumbh, authorities have already collected more than 70,000 signatures on the flag.The flag, when unfurled, will be nearly the size of a football field, providing ample room for the lakhs of signatures that the campaign is expecting to attract.The flag has been cut into 80 pieces by skilled technicians to ensure can be pieced back together in its entirety, said the Sadhvi.“On tour across the Kumbha Mela, the signature campaign has been designed as an important tool to educate and inspire the masses to say, ‘Yes’ to education; no to child marriage,” said Sadhvi Bhagwati Saraswati of the Parmarth Niketan.She further said that while regional differences vary, on an average, 27% of the girls India get married before they turn 18. Statistically, child brides witness domestic violence, suffer from diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and poverty.“The signature campaign, undertaken by us, intends to hold important dialogues regarding the issue as it travels through the Kumbha Mela, and then across the state of Uttar Pradesh to collect signatures and sow the seeds of change,” she said.Sadhvi Saraswati vver 70,000 signatures have already been collected including those of Union water resources minister Nitin Gadkari, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, Madhya Pradesh governor Anandi Ben Patel, film actor Sanjay Mishra and Lubna Salim, film makers Madhur Bhandarkar, Subash Ghai, Abhinav Kashyuap and many others.

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