Manendu Pahariya मनेन्दु पहारिया

..New Delhi, Nov. 14: Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today described India as the "dirtiest and filthiest" country in the world where people with mobile phones go out to answer the "call of nature". The comment was the latest addition to the minister's repertoire of controversial statements on a gamut of subjects ranging from education and research to sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and sanitation. Ramesh, who last month said open defecation was a "blot" and a "shame", returned to the topic as he highlighted what he called a "paradox". "In one area in which India can claim success in the social sector is education. We can't say the same thing in health, we can't say the same thing in nutrition, we certainly can't say the same thing in sanitation because we do remain the dirtiest and filthiest country," he said. He said around 65 per cent of rural houses had been provided with toilets but didn't

In Raina district, West Bengal, primary school children are acting as major change agents. They have been assigned the role of health soldiers. These health soldiers are asked to report any wrong practices with regard to hygiene behavior (e.g. not cleaning latrine after usage) which they may observe during the day, to the teacher. The children also identify the sanitation problems in the school premises and in the village, and make maps. Each week children and teachers check a number of hygiene and cleanliness habits or places in the school. These are entered on to a chart where progress can be seen as time goes by. The teachers tell stories and do activities with the children to help them understand the importance of sanitation. The teachers as well as the children demonstrate to the class different hygienic practices like washing hands, personal hygiene, etc. Further, to facilitate active hygiene practices to happen all over the village, there are various capacity building programm

Total Sanitation Campaign is a comprehensive programme to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas with broader goal to eradicate the practice of open defecation. TSC as a part of reform principles was initiated in 1999 when Central Rural Sanitation Programme was restructured making it demand driven and people centered. It follows a principle of “low to no subsidy” where a nominal subsidy in the form of incentive is given to rural poor households for construction of toilets. TSC gives strong emphasis on Information, Education and Communication (IEC), Capacity Building and Hygiene Education for effective behaviour change with involvement of PRIs, CBOs, and NGOs etc. The key intervention areas are Individual household latrines (IHHL), School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE), Community Sanitary Complex, Anganwadi toilets supported by Rural Sanitary Marts (RSMs) and Production Centers (PCs). The main goal of the GOI is to eradicate the practice of open defecation by 2010. To give