This refers to your report of February 16 titled, “Indian woman rewarded for tough ‘toilet’ stand’”.
KARACHI: This refers to your report of February 16 titled, “Indian woman rewarded for tough ‘toilet’ stand’”.
An Indian woman was handed $10,000 by a non-profit group after she refused to defecate in the open and sparked a ‘toilet revolution’ in her village in the state of Madhya Pradesh. In fact, she left her house after her marriage because there was no toilet. And she returned only after her husband had built one with help from district officials. This step motivated other women of the village to do the same and now the place stands transformed.
Now compare this to Pakistan, where it has been recently reported that two passengers in an airline were recently carried in the plane’s toilets. This reportedly happened on February 15, on a flight from Lahore to Karachi and was done because there were no seats left for them.
Sadly, this is indicative of the state of education and sense of public hygiene in our country. At the same time it is also an example of how women in India are respected and their voice is heard.
Sqn-ldr (retd) S Ausaf Husain
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2012.
