Kalavati Devi (born c. 1965) is an Indian mason who became an award-winning toilet builder in Kanpur. She transformed her own community by installing a 50-seat toilet and then moved to other communities. She has helped build 4,000 toilets improving the lot particularly for women and children. In 2019 she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar (the highest award for women in India).
Life
Devi was born in the 1960s and her background is in Sitapur.[1] She came to Raja purwa near j k temple Kanpur when she was 14 to marry Jairaj Singh who was 18. One of her husband's jobs was to work as a floor cutter for a non-profit group called Shramik Bharti.[1]
They lived in Raja Purwa Kanpur and she was disgusted by people defecating in the street. She said it was a "living hell" and that she intended to improve the cleanliness of her area.[2] Her husband was supportive and, when she decided that she was going to build toilets in her area, he went with her to meet Shramik Bharti. They were keen on the idea of building a 10–20 seat facility. Local corporations were approached and they offered to find 200,000 rupees if she could raise 100,000. She tried, and she did raise a good sum and more importantly enthusiasm for the idea. Eventually there was a 50-seat facility.[1]
She had found her role, but she wanted to do more than fund raise and organise so she decided to become a mason and Shramik Bharti found funds to assist her training.[1]
Both her husband and son-in-law died leaving her as the sole wage earner who had to provide for her daughter and two grandchildren.[2] In 2015 she was working in the shanty town of Rakhi Mandi where 700 families lived without a single toilet. Devi offered to help and persuaded WaterAid to help fund some toilets. The local community were unwilling to give land or finances as they were happy with their lot and they feared that there must be a secret agenda to the offer of help.[3] This was despite the open sewers, children and adults having to defaecate in the street and anecdotal talk of assaults and a rape.[1] She went out to build the toilets having to walk some days in pouring rain for 5 km after taking two bus rides.[1]
Kalavati Devi won the award as a woman mason building toilets. Another woman Sunita Devi had won the same award for similar work, the year before, for her work in Jharkhand.[5]
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