‘Fathers and sons’ and ‘brothers’ have long monopolised the business name game in India. Breaking the patriarchal norm, Ludhiana contractor Manoj Kumar Gupta named his medical pharmacy store ‘Gupta and Daughters’ after his daughter Akanksha.
With his store, Gupta, 54, gave a boost to the gender equality that modern India needs beyond the sloganeering ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’.
The initiative by Gupta, a resident of Pakhowal Road, has been widely praised on social media. Aman Kashyap, a medical professional, shared a picture of the signboard on Twitter and in no time it went viral. Gupta’s ‘change for the better’ inventiveness garnered over 6000 likes and warm applauds on the internet.
‘Unlike all the shops opened in the name of sons, a medicine shop in association with ‘Gupta & Daughters’ spotted in Ludhiana. Be the change you want to see in this world,’ Kashyap wrote on twitter.
Gupta nd daughters …. Unlike all the shops opened in the name of Sons, a medicine shop in association with ‘Gupta & Daughters’ spotted in Ludhiana. Be the change you want to see in this world ♥️ pic.twitter.com/rRE2JiYHpK
— Dr Aman kashyap (@DrAmankashyap) May 22, 2020
Gupta, also owns a construction company ‘Gupta and Sons’. However, three years ago, when he started his second venture, a charitable pharmacy, he gave the proprietorship to his daughter.
‘It’s a symbol of gender equality. When I told my family about it, they were all happy despite some initial reservations about a different sounding name. But I had made up my mind,’ Gupta told The Times Of India.
Akanksha, a law student, said she was proud of her parents for breaking the stereotype and setting an example for the society in gender equality.
‘In India at least, we have not seen or read about anything like our father’s initiative,’ said Roshan Gupta, Akanksha’s elder brother, an MBA graduate. He also said his family has taught him to treat his sister equally.
Some netizens also posted photos of other instances where businesses were named after daughter instead of sons.
One more pic.twitter.com/x3otQUQwih
— Rohit Jain (@rohit_tezpur) May 22, 2020
https://t.co/5IBGUFkXDC
— Harshita (@ami_Harshita) May 22, 2020
