Toilet: A Distant Dream for Many

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But the reality was-- it wasnot the time yet. The next morning I accompanied my grandfather to the village grocer and found lumps of stool every two palm distance. I saw people pooping on the edge of the road. Iwas shocked not because of the people but because of the fact that the road was newly constructed and people there had no better use of it other than using the edge of the road as toilet.

I asked and discussed about it to my grandfather. I asked him whythese peopledon't usetoilets?The answer was these are from scheduled caste communities of thevillage, they don't use toilets even if they have.The statement pierced through me exposing the prevailing socialdivide in the society.

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These people don't have television, these people rarely meet their ends meet and then government decides to clean India through campaigns on television, I thought.These people lack awareness, and government should understand that to reach the grassrootlevel television and radio isnot always helpful.Above all they need education followed by ability tothink what is right and what is wrong.

Other than thisnot everyone knows Nitish Kumar's promise of giving 12,000 INR to ones who construct toilets in their home.When I talked to few regarding this the common answer was, “First, It takes a lot effort and is a headache. We need to run pillar to post here for this 12,000 rupees, if we try to get it on our own.”

Secondly, if we want things to work smoothly then there is a 'Bicholia'(person who takes commission to get the work done). These bicholiyas take a commission of 2,000 rupees out of this 12,000 as their commission.

Hearing this I thought how far off was the Digital India dream. Where there is no basic literacy, SwachchBharat is a mere dream.

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