K hatoon’s identity from Ormanjhi block is not just confined to her house but people know her for making her village open defecation free (ODF). Similarly, lalita Devi has earned a respect from public through her door-to-door campaigning project for encouraging the villagers to construct toilets. More than 500 women’s workforce now known as ‘Swacchta Champions’ are the real crusaders who are helping their villages to transform in real sense.
Praising the efforts being made by the State Government to make Jharkhand ODF by 2018, Minister of State for Rural Development, Ram Kripal Yadav said that he is extremely happy to see the progress report of Jharkhand on national forum when it comes to take one of the most ambitious project ‘Swacch Bharat’ mission ahead.
During the inaugural programme of ‘Swacch Shakti Week’ in the Capital City being celebrated from March 1 to March 8 across India, Yadav said, “State is putting all its effort and performing extraordinary well in carrying out different sanitation tasks. It is good to see that the rank of Jharkhand has shifted up and is far ahead than several developed State. linking up women with the project would give more positive results in the days to come.”
Emphasising on women empowerment, Yadav further added, “Due to sheer dedication of women, the State is able to gain 61.44 per cent in sanitation this year which is far better than the 2012-13 and 2014-15 results that was merely 38.76 per cent and 42.01 per cent respectively.”
Women from across the State, who have assembled to witness the State level programme not just shared their experience motivating their fellow beings but have also urged to the audiences to participate actively in taking the sanitation work ahead. With the active involvement of females, so far 15 blocks and 300 panchayats have been declared ODF in State.
“With the time, the State is finally heading towards achieving its goal of making the State ODF by 2018 as per the government’s vision and the overall national target of 2019. During this financial year, 40 more blocks will be ODF. The verification task is going on to declare these blocks ODF,” said, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan (Gramin), Mission Director, Rajesh Kumar Sharma.
The word ‘Swacch’ that has created a buzz all around has given identity to several women residing in rural belts and are now carrying forward several sanitation tasks in association with the civic society members as ‘Swacchta Champions’. At present, 83 women have been selected from Jharkhand and will represent the State in Gujarat at a national programme chaired by PM, Narendra Modi.
“By March 2018, more than 50 per cent State will be made ODF. Through several schemes so far, the department has targeted 1,000 panchayats, 70 blocks and one district in the first phase. Concepts like provision of check-lists, innovative competitions like ‘Bhai No.1’, provision of bank loans for constructing toilets have helped in creating mass awareness,” said, Principal Secretary, Water and Sanitation Department, AP Singh.
Notably, the department that aims to cover even the remotest village has recently made Public Distribution System (PDS) outlets as the resource centers where all construction materials are available at a nominal price for constructing toilets and to reduce the transportation cost.
Measures like field inspection and surprise visits including ‘Ratri Chaupal’ concept to check open defecation and urination have helped the State fetching better position in comparison to several developed Southern State districts, claimed Singh while briefing about the steps being adopted by the State to make Jharkhand ODF.