In India’s Villages: No Toilet, No Bride

It’s almost unbelievable that the place where flush toilets originated has problems like this especially of the villagers for decades. Its quite impossible to think that this is true. Knowing that India had flush toilets in the ancient cities since the time of the Indus Valley Civilization-a Bronze Age civilization which centered mostly in the western part of the Indian Subcontinent which comprises the countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh today.

It is estimated that it has more than 600 million people still defecate in the open. This lack of basic amenity not only poses a lot of health hazard to people but of course bringing some sort of shame and humiliation especially among women. To avoid humiliation it’s either you face the call of nature before sunrise or hold it through till dark.The darkness of night became their shield from everyone’s eye.

Now a days The slogan NO TOILET, NO BRIDE has been plastered all across villages as part of a campaign to increase the number of available facilities. In the northern Indian state of Haryana, courtship is basically a “big deal ” especially to the mothers as they really stressed to their future son-in-law the reality of the slogan.“If you don’t have a toilet, you cannot marry my daughter.”

The slogan no toilet, no bride is not only made to pacify and maybe satisfy and grant their future mother-in-law’s request but i guess it’s just right for them to have it as a basic necessity and humans like anyone else deserves a more decent way of living.

Reports said ,” that local women, often illiterate, have taken a keen interest in bathroom construction, said Roshni Devi, the council chief in Haryana’s Kothal Khurd village.

And through it, they have gained a sense of self, making the lowly toilet seat feel more like a lofty throne.”

Even now that  India is emerging as a global economic power, still millions of its citizens are living in poverty. The problem is so big that the country would need to construct 112,000 toilets every day if it wants to meet its sanitation goal by 2012, according to the Ministry of Rural Development.

But the campaign “No toilet, no bride” has yielded very positive results. About 1.4 million lavatories have already been built in the state since 2005. “We have more toilets, less shame among women and less disease,” said S.K.Monda, the official in charge of the program.

No toilet, no bride video ( located in the middle part of the video )