Sushila Kanwar, Sarpanch of Kathar Gram Panchayat, Udaipur was honoured by the Central Government for her role in driving positive change in her community and eliminating open defecation and adopting safe sanitation practice.

39-year old Sushila’s sojourn with the fight against open defecation started in 2015 when the district collector visited their village and refused to have tea/water considering the filthy stage that the village was in. On that day, Sushila, the newly elected Sarpanch took a vow of not sitting in her official seat till her village was declared open defecation free. She  said that it was a feeling of extreme shame than an official guest came to their village and left without having anything. This is what propelled her towards the mission.

She recalls that the next day they called a meeting with everyone within their panchayat and made them aware of how bad a stage the village was in. The villagers were made encouraged to build toilets in their individual homes. It was not an easy path – though there were some who agreed, others were adamant saying that it was the way that their forefathers had been doing for ages.

In her fight, Sushila roped in school children to spread the message. Children were asked to go to spots where people used to defecate in open and whistle at places where they found people defecating. Children were also given garland and people found defecating in the open were also garlanded (Real life Munnabhai in action!). People soon started getting embarrassed and building toilets in their homes.

There is also a community programme now that fines people found defecating in the open with Rs 250 and Rs 500 found for first time and repeat offenders. Within a month, the panchayat has 6000 people and 1450 toilets.