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chAnging hAbits

Making Rajasthan’s Banswara district open defecation free hasn’t been
the only challenge for Manish Vishnoi. Getting them to use the new toilets
has been equally tricky

p assion and fervent belief in a cause are constructing toilets in houses and avoiding
powerful forces for transformation
defecating in the open, Manish had to interact
and Manish Vishnoi, a prerak with the with the political parties at times to ensure
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in Banswara that any ideological differences didn’t get in
district of Rajasthan, best exemplifies it. the way of his objectives. “I had to canvass
Sustained efforts by Manish have led to a support from all stakeholders for the smooth
significant increase in the number of individual implementation of the programme,”
household latrines (IHH) in the district. says Manish.
It wasn’t easy to begin with. The Wagad
region, of which Banswara happens to be a coMMunity trAnsforMAtion
part, is home to a tribal community that lives Hailing from Peelva Khariya Bera village in
in spatially separated homesteads. Answering Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, Manish had
nature’s call in the open has been a practice decided early in life to work in grassroots
followed by the rural populace for generations. transformation projects. This led him to
Along with spreading awareness about resign from a government job in 2013. Hired

10 TATA WATER MISSION - A Tata Trusts Initiative