There is new courtship ritual in Haryana. Villages in the state have recently been plastered with a slogan "If you don't have a proper lavatory in your house, don't even think about marrying my daughter." The slogans are part of state government campaign: "No toilet, no bride."
People in the state agree that the campaign-which also runs TV adverts, radio jingles and cleanliness rallies has changed their thinking. "Our daughter will be married only to a family that has a toilet at home . If need be we will hold out for the construction of a new toilet," Satwant Kaur, of the village of Khanpur Koliyan in Kurukshetra told the news agency INS. There are pockets of resistance, however. Some upper-caste communities are not happy with lavatories in their homes because tradition dictates that such an arrangement is unclean.
But many are changing. "Toilets should not be in the home as the food is also cooked within the premises. One also gets fresh air during the morning walk to the fields. But I guess one has to change with the times," said Bhaiyya Ram Sharma of Shahar Malpur village in Panipat.
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