I heard this story from a friend.
Often the city holds seminars and conferences on ways and means of alleviating poverty for the rural poor. People who attend these conferences usually belong to the urban intelligentsia. In one such conference one of the hugely debated topics was finding proper sanitation solutions for villagers. Many villages in Bengal lack basic facilities like access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Experts who spoke at the conference were unanimous in their opinion that this was topmost priority and should be tackled by the government on war footing.
One of the invited speakers was a lady from the interiors of rural Bengal. When it was her turn to speak she remarked that what she had heard till now was urban speak – the problems viewed and judged from an alien perspective. According to her the priorities for rural poor could be something completely different. For example she said access to modern and eco-friendly sanitation facilities was definitely not top on their wish list. They were used to defecating in the open spaces available and could manage with the system till other basic essentials were met. For them it was more important to find solutions for keeping their kitchen fire burning and making provisions for keeping the evening lamp alight. They usually depended on firewood as the major source of energy and it was essential to stock enough of this scarce resource before every monsoon. Otherwise families would have to starve for days . According to her finding alternative energy solutions was topmost on their list of priorities.
Often the city holds seminars and conferences on ways and means of alleviating poverty for the rural poor. People who attend these conferences usually belong to the urban intelligentsia. In one such conference one of the hugely debated topics was finding proper sanitation solutions for villagers. Many villages in Bengal lack basic facilities like access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Experts who spoke at the conference were unanimous in their opinion that this was topmost priority and should be tackled by the government on war footing.
One of the invited speakers was a lady from the interiors of rural Bengal. When it was her turn to speak she remarked that what she had heard till now was urban speak – the problems viewed and judged from an alien perspective. According to her the priorities for rural poor could be something completely different. For example she said access to modern and eco-friendly sanitation facilities was definitely not top on their wish list. They were used to defecating in the open spaces available and could manage with the system till other basic essentials were met. For them it was more important to find solutions for keeping their kitchen fire burning and making provisions for keeping the evening lamp alight. They usually depended on firewood as the major source of energy and it was essential to stock enough of this scarce resource before every monsoon. Otherwise families would have to starve for days . According to her finding alternative energy solutions was topmost on their list of priorities.
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