Corporates could be more impressive ambassadors for sanitation

Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh today said corporates could be "more impressive" ambassadors for promoting sanitation programmes in villages than Bollywood actress Vidya Balan.
37-year-old Balan was roped in by the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in 2012 during the UPA rule as brand ambassador to spread awareness about sanitation and cleanliness in the country.
"I think you(corporates) should go there because Vidya Balan cannot be touched by the villagers. She is only on the screen. When you would be interacting with them (villagers), you would be more impressive as ambassador, as brand of the sanitation. This is what I think," Singh told an industry event.

Singh, who is the Minister for Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation, made these remarks while stressing there was a need for joint efforts by corporates as individual efforts may not be fruitful in the field of sanitation.
The minister was delivering his inaugural address while launching the India Sanitation Coalition by FICCI here. The coalition has been established to bring organisations and individuals together on a common platform to find sustainable solutions for sanitation through dissemination of best practises, partnerships and collaboration and advocacy.
Singh, who is also holding the portfolio of rural development, called upon corporates to extend their support for construction of two crore toilets under the MNREGA scheme of his ministry.

"We were entrusted, under MNREGA, to construct two crore latrines and there your (corporates) efforts can be more effectively used... There we would be needing capacity building," he said.

He also said that the corporates can utilise the services of 33 community-based organisations and NGOs, whose services can be utilised for the CSR supported sanitation projects.
The baseline survey on sanitation carried out in 2013 has shown that of the 18 crore rural households, 11.11 crore do not have access to toilets and this gap should be covered by October 2, 2019, he added.
Earlier, Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Vijaylaxmi Joshi said that about 49 lakh toilets were constructed between October 2014 and March this year.

She further said, the ministry of sanitation is creating a corporate page on their portal comprising of database where information on sanitation projects carried out by the corporates, would be made available by July 1.
Joshi also added that the ministry is also in the process of opening a corporate facilitation desk, which would be facilitating for the sanitation projects by corporates.
She also said corporates must explore possibilities of roping in more brand ambassadors for sanitation programmes.
"Can more such brand ambassadors be brought in because they have a say, they matter, what they say people believe easily," she added.