West Bengal's 'Sabar Souchagar' cleanliness project shortlisted for UN Award

West Bengal's cleanliness initiative for personal hygiene shortlisted for UN Awards 2015.

As part of the Nirmal Bangla intiative, the Sabar Souchagar (toilet for all) project in West Bengal's Nadia district, has now been nominated for the United Nations Public Services Award 2015. The idea behind the initiative was to focus on promoting cleanliness and sanitation in the nook-and-corners of rural Bengal.

The United Nations Public Services Awards Committee has shortlisted the project for the prestigious international UN Public Services Award 2015, state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said here on Saturday.

Besides the UN, Banerjee said Britain-based Loughborough University has also selected the project as 'an inspiring district-level model for eliminating open defecation in India' and it would be felicitated at the 38th WEDC International Conference in London in July 2015. My best wishes to team Nadia for this outstanding achievement, she said. Last month, over 2.5 lakh people in the district vowed not to defecate in the open. Find out why putting an end to open defecation in public is a global priority.

The district administration has already constructed around 2.72 lakh toilets during the last one and a half years and another 42,000 are to be completed within April this year.

India s plight with sanitation and open defecation

While this attempt by West Bengal is certainly a drop in the ocean for the basic hygiene and sanitation demands in the country, India certainly has a long way to go where as putting an end to open defecation is concerned.

India is the World s capital for open defecation, with railway stations in the country having the filthiest toilets and sanitation facilities. This is also why 88% Indians find toilets at railway stations the dirtiest. Besides, rural areas still fall short of basic toilet facilities today. This hence raises questions on how accessible toilets are for people of all sections of the society including the differently abled, the elderly and women, to manage menstrual hygiene. They are also commonly excluded from development opportunities like attending school or getting employed. TCS promises to launch toilets for girls in over 1,000 schools.

Image source: Getty Images

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