CB Bureau‘We are so far removed from the realities of the rural environment, that when I read the statistics about sanitation I did not want to lose the opportunity to be a part of this movement,’ said actor Vidya Balan on being appointed as a Sanitation Ambassador who stands in support of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. The Abhiyan is the Government of India’s initiative to make India an ‘open defecation-free’ nation within a decade.
Balan said this at the launch of Nirmal Bharat Yatra, a drive to spread awareness about sanitation in rural India and a part of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh launched the yatra, which will begin on October 3 and proceed through five states, spanning nearly 2,000 kilometres, in over 51 days.
‘India is a cleanliness-deficit, godliness-surplus country,’ said Ramesh, referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s words ‘cleanliness is next to godliness.’
Ramesh said that studies conducted by World Health Organisation and UNICEF have found that with 626 million people defecating in the open, India has the largest population without access to toilets. He said that sanitation should become a national and political obsession. The yatra, according to the minister, would touch important places related to Mahatma Gandhi and the Quit India Movement.
Answering CauseBecause’s query on ways to measure the impact of the Abhiyan – will it be the number of toilets made or the number of people using them – Ramesh said that it was a question to which we have not been able to find an answer in 3,000 years. The need is to change the mindset of people. The aim of the Abhiyan is to ensure that the toilets are made and are used by all. The Nirmal Bharat Yatra is just one step towards spreading understanding about hygiene and an effort to make people aware of the Abhiyan.
The yatra will be a sort of mela or a village fair on wheels and will include entertaining and engaging activities on cricket and cinema themes which will subtly pass on the message of sanitation and hygiene across India. The focus will be on raising awareness around sanitation and handwashing with soap. The yatra will also make an effort to address taboos around menstrual hygiene management.
To be started on October 3 from Wardha, Maharashtra, the centre of Quit India Movement, the yatra will reach Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on October 14; Kota, Rajasthan, on October 22; Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, on October 31; and Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, on November 9. It will end at Bettiah, Bihar, the birthplace of Mahatma’s first Satyagraha, on November 17.
For the sanitation ambassador Vidya Balan, sanitation is an issue close to her heart and she expressed the hope that big changes would be visible in the coming years. She also endorsed the slogan of the ad campaign – Jahaan shauch, wahaan shauchalay.
The yatra will also see the involvement of chief ministers of several states and cricket stars.