In spite of the Government of India initiating a campaign like 'No toilet, No bride', the bitter truth is that almost 70 per cent of rural India still defecates in open.
Concerns over poor sanitation in India is nothing new. VV-PACS Community Correspondent Madhuri Chouhan from Sant Kabir Nagar reports on the harsh reality for many women in her village.
Some of the major reasons for open defecation is the unavailability of proper toilets, water scarcity and lack of proper awareness.
"At night we are scared of being bitten by snakes & sometimes people on our way say bad things to us", says Akhtar Nishabo a resident of the area.
"We need toilets near our home as passersby make comments", adds Dashanti. "This is a shameful issue indeed rightly put by Madhuri."
For thousands of women across India, the existence of a toilet near their workplace is no small thing. It affects women's ability to work, their safety and their mobility.
Call to Action: Please call the Block Development Officer on 9451472566 and ask him to ensure that there are proper sanitation facilities in Dalerganj village, Sant Kabir Nagar.
About the Partnership: The Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme and Video Volunteers have come together to create the Community Correspondents Network. The videos generated by the network will be able to highlight voices from the margins, providing skills to social communicators to provide advocacy tools to community based organisations.
In this video of UPS Manwan Awoora school, Kupwara, Kashmir, the community correspondent Pir Azhar shows us that there are nine classes for 250 students, and due to lack of space, the lower primary classes are held outside in the open. Also the school has only 7 teachers.
Houseboats are a major tourist attraction in Kashmir. History says that this tradition started in the 1800s and since then it has created a unique heritage in the tourism industry.
