Volunteers like Udhav Phad (R) speak to villagers on a daily basis to inspire change in them

When Rinku Kumari, 33, started visiting villages in Bihar ’s Nalanda district to motivate people to build toilets , she realised it was no easy task. But even more difficult was to convince them to use those toilets.

It took a map and some simple psychology to change an age-old habit. “Using colour codes, I would ask them to mark the places where they would go to ease themselves in yellow and the map would be dotted with yellow all over. The splashes made them feel ashamed and they would request me not to make the map public,” says Rinku, a bangle maker, who adds that she has been able to make 10 villages open-defecation free.

Rinku is a swachhagrahi activist. Hundreds of volunteers shared similar experiences as they assembled at Champaran earlier this week to commemorate the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha.

Ateeq Ahmed from Bijnor in UP uses a more poetic approach. “When I ask parents why they do not have a toilet to protect the honour of their daughters and bahus, they fumble. I recite my poems to motivate people, which has worked wonderfully,” he says. Sample this: “Dulhan ho ya beti apni/ Shauch ko bahar jab jaati hai/ Mard koi jab dekhe usko/ Lajja se woh mar jaati hai/ Is gairat se usse bachao/ Shauchalaya tum ghar mein banao.” Ahmed, a teacher, says that getting schoolchildren to motivate parents to build and use toilets has worked almost everywhere.

The ‘jidd karo abhiyaan’ counts on children’s pester power. “We sensitise girl children in schools to ask their parents to build toilets, saying they won’t eat until they promise to do so,” says Archana Kharwar, a swachhagrahi from Kushinagar. Often, a group of girls lands up at the home of a classmate to persuade the family.

Morish Jariya, a farmer from Naxal-affected Simdega district in Jharkhand, built a toilet in his house and became a volunteer a year back. “I started visiting houses. Initially, people would bang their doors shut.” The attitude is changing now, says Jariya, who talks about swachhta at every tribal festival.

In fact, the massive campaign by the Centre in coordination with states is primarily driven by thousands of such unsung heroes, who visit villages, camp there and carry out activities from 4am till 7 in the evening.

“Throughout the day they motivate groups of people to adopt better sanitation practices by using various social and economical nudge arguments like health, prosperity, dignity and disgust,” says Parmeswaran Iyer, secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Their efforts, backed by government funding for toilets, have certainly helped — 38% rural households had toilets in 2014, the figure has gone up to 82% in less than four years. The government is targeting 100% toilet coverage by October 2019.

Two swachhagrahis from UP, Kharwar and Babita Singh, give details of a typical camp day. “In the morning, there are on-thespot visits to places where people defecate in the open. There are ODF (open-defecation free) senas and other volunteers with torches and whistles in every village to discourage the practice. Then we carry out door-to-door survey to find which household does not have a toilet. During the day, a gaddha khodo (dig a pit) campaign is undertaken to motivate people. The day ends with a cultural programme in the evening.”

Udhav Phad, a behaviour change motivator from Maharashtra who has been travelling through Bihar, says the common man does a better job of reaching out to villagers than government officials. “We travel on our cycles, talk to men taking a bath at the handpump. We do this on a daily basis. But the real challenge is to sustain the campaign after the toilets are built.”

