Highlights
- The government is launching a campaign to promote the use of toilets
- It will focus on creating behavioural change to end open defecation
- Amitabh Bachchan has been roped in as the campaign ambassador
New Delhi: “If every village becomes open defecation free, you will see that diseases will disappear,” tweeted Amitabh Bachchan on May 29 extending support to the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation’s soon to be launched ‘#DarwazaBand’ campaign. The multi-media campaign which will play out on radio, television and billboards seeks to educate people the importance of using toilets and mitigating the prevalence of health problems linked to open defecation.
Mr Bachchan who has been a campaign ambassador for the Swachh Bharat Mission for a while now, previously participating in media campaigns to encourage people to stop defecating in the open and take up composting, will be seen educating people about how open defecation leads to diseases that impact their own families and children. This will focus on the vital link between Swachh Bharat and Swasth Bharat.
Also Read: Waste Management Should Be Taught In Schools, Amitabh Bachchan Tells NDTV
T 2439 – We want #India to progress as also the villages ! #DarwazaBand is a roadmap to #MyCleanIndia. @SwachhBharat pic.twitter.com/yQEgBWQm0M
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) May 29, 2017
According to the Swachh Bharat Mission’s website, nearly 400 children under the age of five die of diarrhoea linked to poor sanitation and hygiene every single day. This is closely linked to open defecation. Additionally, World Bank data indicates that poor sanitation due to open defecation costs India a whopping 6.4 per cent of its GDP.
T 2439 –#India has vowed to end #OpenDefecation. Spread the message of #cleanliness through #DarwazaBand & support @SwachhBharat .. I DO !! pic.twitter.com/e9scNJBczU
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) May 29, 2017
The #DarwazaBand campaign will be rolled out by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on May 30 with support from the World Bank. The campaign has been developed in response to various reports that have indicated that building individual household toilets does not automatically mean that people stop defecating in the open.
In the past 2.5 years, we have built a lot of toilets, over four crores of them in the rural areas. However, we realised that not everyone is using them. Especially the men, Gajendra Pratap Singh, Consultant, Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation tells NDTV.
“This campaign is the next step. It focuses on behaviour change. We want everyone to understand the importance of using a toilet, how ‘bolting a door’ in a toilet bolts the door on diseases and health problems that are caused due to open defecation—how by just using toilets we can have safer and healthier families, communities and individuals,” Mr Singh explains.
The campaign’s Mumbai launch will be attended by Mr Bachchan, Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Actor Anushka Sharma will also be an ambassador for the campaign.
Honoured to be a part of @swachhbharat campaign. Please adopt healthy sanitation practices & construct toilets to ensure #SafetyForWomen ???????????? pic.twitter.com/NESTbTfXAv
— Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) May 30, 2017
The campaign will first be launched in Hindi and will then be rolled out in different regional languages and is expected to run for at least six months.
