: Villages in Bhopal district count on communities to keep public spaces clean #IndiaNEWS #National,INSIGHT By Sanavver ShafiBhopal, July 29 (IANS) Wielding a long broom to sweep the road, Sunita Bai

Villages in Bhopal district count on communities to keep public spaces clean #IndiaNEWS #National ,INSIGHT
By Sanavver ShafiBhopal, July 29 (IANS) Wielding a long broom to sweep the road, Sunita Bai of Acharpura says, It is our responsibility to keep public spaces as clean as our homes. The garbage and filth in our main market is disturbing. As women, it is our duty to teach men and children to be tidy. Our men visit the tea shops and litter the place. When our children and men see us cleaning up the streets and drains, they will be shamed into using bins.
Sunita Bai and several other women from Acharpura, Gunga and numerous villages are part of the Swacchhata Maha Abhiyaan (Grand Cleanliness Campaign) initiated by the District Panchayat in all 187 gram panchayats. Two days each month will be set aside for cleaning up drains, markets and public spaces in villages by the entire community. The aim is to make people more mindful of littering these public spaces.
While the campaign needed women to lead it from the front and centre, it wasnt easy initially to get them to come forward. Smita Devi, an Acharpura local, admits, I was sceptical when I first heard of this campaign. But I later decided to become a part of it. At home too, our husbands never care to be tidy. It is the same habit manifesting itself outside. I have become a part of this campaign to discipline our men, and teach them to be responsible.
It went beyond persuading a single individual. As Sadhana Lodhi, President of the Mahila Swayam Sahayata Samuha of Gunga village, says, It was no small challenge to get the women working in our Swayam Sahayata Samuha (Self Help Group) involved; it is one thing to clean up your own home, and another to clean the village. Initially, they all declined. It took a lot of persuasion to get them to agree to be a part of it. Even after they had agreed, husbands and in-laws told them that cleaning up drains and roads was the job of bhangis, or sweepers. The women were too scared to defy their families. It was then that I took up the matter with District Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rituraj Singh.
CEO Singh, determined to get the community involved, first spoke to the women, and then their families. A woman in Gunga remembers how she was excited about the campaign when she first heard of it but her husband had opposed the idea. Then the matter was placed before the panchayat and CEO Singh had personally spoken to a few family members, including her husband. When they objected to allowing their women to clean the village, he said that if cleanliness was maintained in the public spaces in the first place, we wouldnt be in this situation. If we dont correct ourselves now, our children will do the same thing in the future. I can get the whole village cleaned by myself, but if you want to do something good for the village and pass on these habits to your children, you will support the campaign, he had said.

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