A UP Woman Sets Example For Others By Selling Her Mangalsutra To Build Toilet In Her House

Woman Sold Mangalsutra To Build Toilet

Becoming a torch-bearer of cleanliness mission for her village, a woman from Vidhnu village in Kanpur Uttar Pradesh sold her mangal sutra (sacred thread) to build a toilet. Lata Devi Diwakar, without receiving any monetary help from the government under the Swachh Bharat Scheme sold her calf after she realised that the cost of building a toilet is Rs 25,000. After falling short of funds, she decided to sell her mangal sutra for Rs 17,000 to construct a toilet in her home.

“There were a lot of problems. After I had heard about the Swachh Bharat Campaign, I felt inspired and decided to build a toilet in the house. The toilet is a basic necessity, and it is more important than jewellery,” said Lata Devi to ANI, as reported by Indian Express.

Her husband asked her to save money for their daughter’s marriage, but she was adamant to build a toilet as she felt that building a toilet was more important than spending the funds on daughter’s wedding.

The government is aiming to achieve an Open Defecation Free India by 2nd October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by constructing 12 crore toilets in rural India.

A similar incident took place in Bihar a few days back, where young girls boycotted gold jewellery to put pressure on parents to build toilets in their homes.

Where does India Stand?

India is behind many poorer countries regarding sanitation like Afghanistan, Burundi and Congo. Sanitation, if provided in an appropriate way, will help to eliminate many issues: diseases will come down, will help in providing better educational facilities for girls as well, help improve the productivity of the people as they live healthily. Inadequate sanitation kills people, causes diseases, environmental pollution, and diminishes welfare. The total economic impacts of inadequate sanitation in India amounts to Rs 2.44 trillion a year which is equivalent to 6.4 percent of India’s GDP in 2006.

The Logical Indian congratulates Lata Devi Diwakar for acting on the anxious issue of open defecation. She will inspire a lot of people in realising the importance of the health issues associated with open defecation. We believe that the day is not far away when every house in India will be equipped with personal toilets and woman need not have to go to the open to defecate.