VIJAYAWADA: “What will a girl like you working for rural development achieve in life?”- many people posed this question to Anusha Krishnapuram from Guntur when she decided to work as a Swachh Bharat Prerak. But that did not deter the 28-year-old. In fact, those questions ignited her spirit so much so that out of the 2,800 odd applications, only she made her way to the World Bank Youth Summit 2017.
With an MBA and M.Sc in Bio-informatics, Anusha should have been earning a fat salary by working in a reputed company. Infact she rejected an offer from a software company and opted for a path less travelled. A graduate from Hyderabad Business School, she is now going to present her idea on an international platform.
While working as Swacch Bharat Prerak in Krishna and Guntur districts, Anusha identified that though people are constructing toilets, they are not using them fearing the pits would fill up.
From there, she came up with the idea to develop a device to monitor the usage of the toilet.
Her idea impressed the selection team of World bank youth summit so much so that they invited her to be a participant in the summit. Excerpts from the conversation.
What made you choose rural development as your career?
Initially, I wanted to become a doctor. But, as I didn’t get a good rank in the entrance examination, I chose B.Sc Bio-informatics and then did M.Sc. In India, there is not much scope for my subject and I wanted to move abroad but my family didn’t want so. With no other option left, I did MBA from Hyderabad Business School. But then again, I didn’t want to work for the corporate sector. So, with my friend’s suggestion, I joined SBI Youth for India which ultimately paved the way for me.
What did you do in SBI Youth for India programme?
Even though I had an offer from a software company, it just didn’t feel right to me. I kept thinking other possibilities. and then applied for this programme. Since the condition of this fellowship is that you cannot choose a village in your home state, I spent an year in Sureshettikoppa village, Karnataka. I worked there on women empowerment with special emphasis on traditional artistic style. The women are now earning `3000-5000 a month which was only `400 a month before.
What made you shift to Swachh Bharat from women empowerment?
I often feel villages are lot better than cities in terms of cleanliness. Using a toilet is must and the onus is on everyone to make the country open defecation free by 2019. I came across a message in Facebook where Tata trust was looking for Swacch Bharat Preraks. Without further ado, I applied for it. Eventually, I got selected and started to work. I noticed that a majority of the people are not using toilets even though they have one. So from there, I developed my idea of coming up with a device that monitors the usage of toilet.
Do you think that such a device can be developed given that stigmatisation is very high?
Yes, it is true that people fear to have a device installed in their toilets but we convinced them saying that it will help them know the pit level. The basic idea of Swacch Bharat is to promote the twin pit model to avoid manual scavenging. If a pit is full, the device would let people know that it is full and they can change it with another pit. Through this, we would also come to know how far people are using toilets. It is just like a power meter. This idea impressed many and I have been invited in the World bank Youth Summit.
What has been the role of your family in your journey?
My family has been my pillar of strengh. They have supported me in each and every step. My father K Venkateswara Rao, works as a deputy Executive engineer in Panchayat Raj department. Through him, I learnt the importance of villages and the development works that can be undertaken at village level.