Swachh Bharat Campaign : Impact is Being Felt Even in Some of the Most Remote Areas 

A  group of women in a small tribal dominated village of Koteya in the Surajpur district of Chhattisgarh got their fellow residents to change their bad habits of open defecation by an earnest door to door campaign.  Amiti Sirdar, an Anganwadi worker in the village launched a unique and successful campaign to prevent open defecation in the village. The residents of Koteya village were not ready to build or use toilets. They believed that open defecation was a practice that was followed for many generations, and had not caused any damage. In order to stop this practice Amiti formed a group of 20 women Anganwadi workers. These women knocked on the door of every house in the village and appealed to them to build toilets in order to maintain the dignity of women. This group of women also made the villagers aware of the fact that open defecation leads to the spread of many diseases. The efforts of these women have borne fruit and the village Panchayat of Koteya is now working earnestly to make the village open defecation free in keeping with the Swachh Bharat campaign.