Since only 10 percent of Indian villages comprise full sanitation coverage, the government sets to handle the issue with rail and union budgets focussing on sanitation, said Minister Jairam Ramesh.
![Merely 10 Percent Wholly Sanitized Indian Villages: Jairam Merely 10 Percent Wholly Sanitized Indian Villages: Jairam](https://www.medindia.net/afp/images/Health-disease-poverty-sanitation-10462.jpg)
"Nirmal" gram status is given by the government of India to those villages which have full sanitation coverage and have completely abolished open defecation.
Ramesh presented the Sulabh Sanitation Award of Rs.5 lakh to Anita Bai Narre, a tribal woman from Madhya Pradesh who had revolted against the lack of toilets in her in-laws' home and returned to her parents, demanding a clean toilet as the condition for her return.
The government has also made Narre a brand ambassador for its sanitation campaign.
Describing Narre's action as "bold", Ramesh said that the government is aiming to abolish open defecation completely in 10 years, with "special focus on sanitation and clean toilets, in both rail and union budgets."
"The government's target is to ensure that all the village panchayats become Nirmal Gram Panchayats in 10 years," he said.
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Sulabh International founder and social activist Bindeshwar Pathak hailed Narre's action as "brave" and applauded Narre's husband Shivram and journalist Sanjay Shukla who first broke Narre's story.
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Source-IANS