As if to buttress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's emphasis on drinking water and sanitation in his reply to the motion of thanks to the President's address, a young woman was rewarded for her successful insistence on a toilet as a precondition for living at her husband's place.
Anita Bai Narre of Chichouli village of Betul district in Madhya Pradesh was handed a cheque for Rs. 5 lakh by Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, on behalf of Sulabh International, for standing up for her dignity on reaching her husband's place and demanding the construction of a toilet.
Sulabh International chairman Bindeshwar Pathak presided over the function.
Anita's courage has changed the picture of her in-law's village (Ratanpur) which is now heading towards cleanliness. Out of its 157 houses, 100 now have toilets — thanks to the bold stand taken by her on her arrival there after her marriage to Shivram Narre in May last year.
Within eight days, Shivram, a casual labourer, constructed the toilet and got his wife back. He got about Rs. 2200 from the gram panchayat and contributed Rs. 2000 from his kitty.
The couple, who are expecting their first child in June, credited each other for the change ushered in their lives. “He [Shivram], too, should be given the credit as he accepted my demand,” Anita, a second year BA student, maintained.
On his part, Shivram, a matriculate, said that Anita's demand was just and it did not cause him annoyance. The couple have already made plans on how to spend the reward money though Shivram said that he would be happier to have a permanent job.
Referring to his earlier statement that cleanliness was as important as praying to God, Mr. Ramesh said it was time to give equal importance to cleanliness. Underlining the need to pursue the task as a social campaign, he pointed out both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have accorded the highest priority to drinking water and sanitation by allocating more funds in the budget.
Mr. Ramesh said that all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats would be turned into nirmal gram panchayats within a decade. “The thrust is not just to construct toilets, but to use and keep them clean — not use them as storage spaces for vegetables and food grain.” Admitting that the task at hand was not easy, he added that it demanded a behavioural change.
Keywords: sanitation, toilets, hygiene
With huge budget propasals in recent years, Congress party led UPA is finding it hard to spend huge money upto Rs.one lakh crore each year for special programs like Helping farmers, Commonwealth games,all turned out to be a flop show. To resurrect the sagging image of Congress party,it should construct ten million toilets in rural and urban homes of poor population and also handover a simple mobile phone for better communication. Such a dynamic scheme can only bring success to the party in 2014 polls.
Let the minister do this in congress ruled states as well like in Maharashtra, Andra etc.
we have proud of anita!!!well done!!!
great work ;thumbs up for this woman
it's high time that such basic amenities are provided in every household in our rapidly urban going India. it's really commendable that women are taking a stand against such issues which otherwise left unaddressed will never be looked after.
Cleanliness (toilet)requested by the wife:
Granted by the husband. So Cleanliness goes to wife and godliness to
husband to prove the proverb, Cleanliness is Godliness..
In the patriarchal indian society if any newly wed female is protesting in her inlaws home, it dosent matters if it is for equity, she is just branded ill cultured and is presumed guilty for not respecting social norms(i.e. to comply with every order of your in laws).
Women like anita are the harbinger of change which is going to sweep our society. Congrats to her husband for understanding how humiliating & unhygenic it is for women to defecate in open.
One light switched on and one at a time as many other light up there will be brightness in the lives of rural India for men, women and children.
We should not restrict people like Jairam Ramesh, Dinesh Trivedi, Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parrikar to pure party lines.
These guys must run Ministries irrespective of which Party comes to power.
A huge and unrealistic calling, I know.
Well done Anita! And she has set an example for women to be vocal &
assertive about anything they need, and not just knuckle under & accept
whatever they are given. And kudos to the husband too, who had a clear
mind & not the crude, barbaric "how dare SHE point faults in MY
house??", mentality which even some so-called educated men have, and
stood for his wife's needs. Wish them a happy married life.
The credit goes as much to the husband as to the wife. Meanwhile, there
are many inferences to be drawn from this story. For instance, does a
better educated woman exercise more negotiating power in a marriage?
Bravo Anita Bai!!!! Truly a courageous women.
Making toilet also needs money, same as if a groom demands vehicle from bride for purpose of marriage. If man demands he is treated as criminal, if woman demands, she is rewarded! Why this kolaveri??
well done anita bai. a determined woman can change a family.
Cleanliness is a requirement for praying to God - It is not "as
important as......". I believe that before independence all sections of
people were aware of this.
A bold and beautiful stand;
Congrats Smt Anita and Shri Shivram;
We are pround of you.
Let the womanfolk of our villages emulate the example of this youngwoman in bringing out better sanitation around them.
The menfolk also should take a cue from Shivram in recognising the just demands of their betteroff, instead of repulsing and knocking the doors of TASMAC shops.
The SHGs which are preaching a lot nowadays, should practice this example, not only in creating such toilet facilities, but also maintaining the sanitation pick and span.
Let the vision of the Father of the Nation be achieved through
bold ladies like Anita.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness;
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