Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation honours group of women from various parts of the country with Citizen Sanitation Champions awards.

When Timla Devi began as a volunteer for the government’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission in September 2015, the men in her village laughed behind her back. Once a week, Ms. Devi, along with five other women, would walk across their village, Mahonag, to collect discarded polythene bags, plastic bottles and cans. Then they would make baskets and flower vases out of them.

“No one talked to us nicely,” said Ms. Devi, standing in the plush lounge of a five star hotel in Delhi. “But things are changing, peoples attitudes are changing.”

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had invited Ms. Devi and her secretary, Ms. Krishna Chauhan, to Delhi. They, along with a group of women from various parts of the country, were honoured with Citizen Sanitation Champions awards on Thursday.

Inspired by the Swachh Bharat Mission, Ms. Devi fought her way over male patriarchy to first keep a clean house then advanced towards her neighbourhood and Panchayat with her cleanliness drive.

With the support of her neighbour Ms. Chauhan, who later became her secretary, she visited schools and temples to talk about the benefits of having a clean environment.

The local administration did not notice her activism until Ms. Chauhan came up with an idea: she borrowed a smartphone from her husband and formed a WhatsApp group, adding village heads, Right to Information activists and the District Commissioner to the group.

Ms. Devi relentlessly fed the group with pictures of herself visiting schools, and picking garbage from village streets and turning them into ropes and baskets.

“One day, the DC (district commissioner) asked us to meet him,” said Ms. Devi. “He treated us very well and appreciated everything we had done. We felt motivated.”

Later in the day, when Narender Singh Tomar, the Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, handed Ms. Devi and Ms. Chauhan their trophies, the audience gave them a round of applause and they beamed with delight.