Even after 70 years of Independence, women in rural areas defecate in the open in the absence of toilets. This shocked "Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi" when he came to the earth to review the status of cleanliness drives.
" Tum log abhi bhi toilet nahi banwai ho? Azadi ke sattar saal ho gaye (You people don't have a toilet even now... It has been 70 years since Independence)," he asked while seeing two women carrying water in a village.
This brief scene was part of a 10-minute play on Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, enacted by a group of eight students at Amar Shaheed Thakur Vishwanath Shahdeo Plus Two Zilla School in Ranchi on Tuesday. The students, all from Class IX of Government High School, Patratu, in Ramgarh district, were taking part in the state-level science drama competition.
The play showed that Gandhi was sent by Lord Yama or Yamraj (God of death) to the earth to find how successful the Prime Minister's cleanliness mission has been. The "Mahatma" also travelled in train and found passengers arguing with him when he asked them not to throw food leftovers. "I am sad to see people mocking hygiene rules, I want to go back to Yamraj," he says.
If the Patratu students tried to convey a message about the need to respect the Prime Minister's cleanliness programme through the play, those of other schools chose topics like the Food Security Act, Digital India, Green Energy and Make in India.
The theme of the state-level competition was Science and Society. A total of 120 students from Classes IX-X of 15 state-run high schools, who had cleared the district-level competition held on August 13, took part.
Chief guest was Manish Ranjan, director of secondary education department.
"Even science can be spread through plays that incorporate script, costumes and messages," Ranjan said.
Also present on the occasion were Ranchi district education Officer Ratan Kumar Mahawar and other department officials.<>The first prize went to Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Namkum, while the second and third were bagged by Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Jamshedpur, and Government Girls' High School, West Singhbhum, respectively.
