SONGS OF SANITATION

                                               

The above title may surprise many and rightly so. On May 7, 2014 a unique cultural programme was staged in the Sulabh auditorium. It was jointly organized by half a dozen school students including some from Bhubneswar, who are the members of the Sulabh Sanitation Club. The artists were extra-enthusiastic as the internationally famous sanitarian and social reformer, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak was present throughout to bless them. The two- and- a- half hour programme had items like any other such event, but the difference was that all the soulful songs, choruses, dances had tinges of sanitation and folk tunes. It is the fertile mind of Dr Pathak who suggested the programme to be christened as the ‘Songs of Sanitation.

Before a political party made it its election symbol, the people at large never gave any importance to the neglected broomstick. Today the audience was overwhelmed after seeing an enchanting broomstick dance item, presented by these innovative students. It was emphasized in course of these presentations that cleanliness is next to godliness and insanitation is ugly, generating diseases. Good sanitation means good health and that makes a country strong. A world Bank study says that any investment in sanitation sector enriches the national coffer by way of improved health, less expenditure on medication, less absenteeism, increased production, more foreign exchange through more tourist footfalls and ultimately a strong and prosperous country.

The most moving items were those castigating the cruel society where girl children were being debarred from seeing the light of the day which is their birth right. Some other items strongly underscored the banes of child labour and gender bias in the society. They loudly asked the society to answer the shape of things in this world devoid of the fair sex. Some of the folk song based dances from Odisha,Rajasthan and Punjab kept the crowd spell bound.

The most remarkable result of the socio-sanitational innovations of Sulabh is to see that the people at large who hated toilets, have started talking about it. To cap these all, the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, enjoying a global clientele is disseminating the santational messages quite effectively.  We should be ashamed of the reality that while in Bangladesh only 5% people resort to open defecation, in our country it is a frightening figure of  57%. More people per year die in the world of water-borne disease and 79% of them are children under five. Can India afford to ignore these frustrating realities? We hope such novel programmes may create desired awareness in the mass. Congrats to Sulabh. The country needs this movement to surge and succeed.