NEW DELHI: If people can afford TVs, ACs and vehicles but do not have toilets, can we call it progress? The Centre is finalsing a multi-media campaign with the question, “yeh kaisi tarakki“, as its theme to persuade the lower middle class and the urban poor to give up the practice of open defecation.

Targeted primarily at “middle-aged males“ and using children to drive home the message, the urban development ministry's campaign, expected to be launched in August, will spread awareness on sanitation practices and hygiene. “Through a series of audio and visual ads, posters and films we are trying to send a message that buying a fancy TV , having an AC at home, vehicle or any other luxury item is not sign of progress, if people are still practising open defecation,“ said an official.

Sources said that the move to feature children is based on a study carried out by the ministry. “It covered urban areas to find out what type of people defecate in the open and we found it's mostly middle-age male from lower middle and poor class. It was also found that children can be the change agent and if they repeatedly send the message, it will result in behaviour change,“ said a ministry official. The ministry is also working out a strategy to promote effective waste management by popularising segregation at home.

The ministry is likely to ask educational institutions to set aside specific days in their calendar as “swachhta diwas“ and encourage students to take up specific projects related to sanitation and hygiene.



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