{"id":197,"date":"2016-04-16T08:24:13","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T08:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=197"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:47:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:47:30","slug":"sach-behind-swachh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"The Sach Behind Swachh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"container page-content\"><p><span class=\"dropcap\">J<\/span><\/p><\/div><p>ust a few years back if someone had asked Nandini Rana about the existence of functioning toilets in Chandan Chowki, she would have reacted with amazement. Not because there had never been toilets before in Lakhimpur Kheri, the largest district of Uttar Pradesh, but because even after being constructed several times in the past, they had hardly been used.\n\nNandini Rana was merely pointing out what the development sector had already known. The biggest problem in India has never been the building of toilets \u2013 it has always been promoting their use. Toilet use has never been an embedded cultural practice in India\u2019s rural areas and the people who need them the most \u2013 the women \u2013 have never had the power to demand them. Several communities in the interior parts of the country live a fairly insulated life. People like the Tharus have never gone out of their district for employment and live in a world of their own. And that world has never included toilets.\n\nEvery morning the young Nandini would join scores of other tribal women to defecate in the open. They\u2019ve been doing it for years, but each morning there is dread as they approach the forest area. Apart from the danger of running into a wild animal, there is the issue regarding lack of privacy from passing men. The women would get out of the house when it was still dark, to avoid the embarrassment of being spotted in the daylight \u2013 and yet there were times when they had to get up abruptly and flee when they heard someone passing by.\n\nIt was a wholly private anguish, one that they believed would never go away. Women in the Tharu community were not empowered to mobilise their community to change this mind-set. They could hardly even discuss the issue with their husbands, who were completely indifferent to these daily affronts. This was an intensely patriarchal community with a long history of treating its women like secondary citizens. Tharu women worked the fields all day, while male members of the community drank themselves into oblivion.\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-9171\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464269203-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"INDIA-SOCIETY-SHEPHERD\" width=\"612\" height=\"407\" \/>\n<figcaption>\n<p>The problem would not be solved just by building concrete structures if the women of the village were not given social sanction to use them.<\/p>\n<p>Money Sharma\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure> In October 2015, all of that changed. \u201cThe Rising Tharu\u201d scheme, a trust endorsed by the then district magistrate, Kinjal Singh, joined forces with Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. It was piloted with an intention to create awareness among tribal girls and boys about mainstream developments. At first, it seemed like just another government project, created for the purpose of keeping officials busy, but this time, something was different.\n\nKinjal, a young woman in her thirties understood the gender dynamics of the community. She understood that the problem would not be solved by just building concrete structures if the women of the village were not given social sanction to use them. In the plains of Lakhimpur Kheri, she was the first person to link social progress with the progress of a girl child through education and sanitation. She also identified that hygiene had to be linked with empowerment to ever have a shot at success.\n\nKinjal encouraged Nandini and the others to openly discuss the problems arising out of lack of sanitation facilities and give it the importance it deserved. She helped Nandini and the women of the Tharu tribe find their voice, and in turn become the voice of their community. The result was that ten of the 40 villages in Lakhimpur Kheri not only got their own toilets, but families who hadn\u2019t yet got them were now treated as outcastes.\n\nToday, the girls in the region are the most vocal advocates of open defecation-free villages. And Nandini is just glad that she can go about her morning ablutions in peace.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[62,63,64,65,66,67,71,72],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gender","tag-arre","tag-arre-digital-platform","tag-arre-originals","tag-arre-reads","tag-arre-text-articles","tag-arre-website","tag-web-series","tag-web-shows"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Sach Behind Swachh<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sach Behind Swachh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArreIndia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-16T08:24:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T13:47:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464266540-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1263\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bhaskar Pant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Sach Behind Swachh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@arretweets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@arretweets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bhaskar Pant\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bhaskar Pant\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d809875607621d9eb7516ef263388439\"},\"headline\":\"The Sach Behind Swachh\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-16T08:24:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T13:47:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1464266540-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"arre\",\"arre digital platform\",\"arre originals\",\"arre reads\",\"arre text articles\",\"arre website\",\"web series\",\"web shows\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Gender\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197\",\"name\":\"The Sach Behind Swachh\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1464266540-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-16T08:24:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T13:47:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1464266540-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1464266540-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1263},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=197#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Sach Behind Swachh\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Arre\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"alternateName\":\"Arre\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ArreLogo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/ArreLogo.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Arr\u00e9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ArreIndia\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/arretweets\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/arreindia\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UC2O-N1R4x56XhndL4qqfKcw\",\"https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Arre_(brand)\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.126.242.153\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d809875607621d9eb7516ef263388439\",\"name\":\"Bhaskar Pant\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a1857478a34f5a66cf1380d7ca4d581d091842b398029d71fb2eca1523e539b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a1857478a34f5a66cf1380d7ca4d581d091842b398029d71fb2eca1523e539b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a1857478a34f5a66cf1380d7ca4d581d091842b398029d71fb2eca1523e539b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bhaskar Pant\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Sach Behind Swachh","description":"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Sach Behind Swachh","og_description":"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArreIndia\/","article_published_time":"2016-04-16T08:24:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T13:47:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1263,"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464266540-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bhaskar Pant","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"The Sach Behind Swachh","twitter_description":"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.","twitter_creator":"@arretweets","twitter_site":"@arretweets","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bhaskar Pant","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197"},"author":{"name":"Bhaskar Pant","@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#\/schema\/person\/d809875607621d9eb7516ef263388439"},"headline":"The Sach Behind Swachh","datePublished":"2016-04-16T08:24:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T13:47:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197"},"wordCount":646,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464266540-scaled.jpg","keywords":["arre","arre digital platform","arre originals","arre reads","arre text articles","arre website","web series","web shows"],"articleSection":["Gender"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197","name":"The Sach Behind Swachh","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464266540-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-16T08:24:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T13:47:30+00:00","description":"As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi\u2019s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India\u2019s remotest villages.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464266540-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464266540-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1263},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=197#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Sach Behind Swachh"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Arre","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#organization","name":"Arr\u00e9","alternateName":"Arre","url":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ArreLogo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ArreLogo.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"Arr\u00e9"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArreIndia\/","https:\/\/x.com\/arretweets","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/arreindia\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC2O-N1R4x56XhndL4qqfKcw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arre_(brand)"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.126.242.153\/#\/schema\/person\/d809875607621d9eb7516ef263388439","name":"Bhaskar Pant","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a1857478a34f5a66cf1380d7ca4d581d091842b398029d71fb2eca1523e539b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a1857478a34f5a66cf1380d7ca4d581d091842b398029d71fb2eca1523e539b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a1857478a34f5a66cf1380d7ca4d581d091842b398029d71fb2eca1523e539b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bhaskar Pant"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1464266540-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}