In the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, the small Santal village of Babojola has transformed the concept of public hygiene into a core cultural value and a vibrant community celebration. This village of 70 families has completely banned littering, spitting, and smoking, making cleanliness an inseparable part of daily life.
A Festival Dedicated to Cleanliness
The community's commitment is most visible during the Pataparba festival, scheduled for February 15 and 16. In preparation, houses receive fresh coats of paint, and traditional designs are renewed. The festival itself sees participation from neighboring villages, with the message of hygiene propagated through a traditional song-and-dance repertoire. To ensure visitors respect their norms, the villagers have installed CCTV cameras throughout the settlement as a deterrent. Anyone found littering is either asked to clean up immediately or pay a fine.
Beauty and Hygiene in Daily Life
The aesthetic sense of Babojola is deeply connected to nature. Each thatched house is adorned with unique wall paintings called 'Bhit Potaw', created by the women using natural colors derived from clay, stones, tree bark, and flowers. Remarkably, none of the 70 houses have the same design. Infrastructure supports the clean ethos, with a dustbin placed every 30 metres. Women sweep the village three times a day, and local youth clear the collected trash the next day. The use of plastic and gutka is frowned upon, and 'no smoking' signs are prominently displayed.
A Community-Driven Vision
The remarkable transformation began 15 years ago, initiated by a local school teacher and Santali writer, Madhusudan Marandi. His vision was to turn Babojola into a model village. "Since then, every villager took it up as a responsibility to realise his vision by keeping the village clean," explained villager Sundar Besra. To institutionalize the effort, 60 villagers formed a club that oversees the cleanliness drive and collects funds for community assets like CCTVs, dustbins, and solar panels. Employed youths and farmers contribute financially to sustain the initiatives.
As Sahitya Akademi awardee writer Damayanti Besra, who hails from the village, notes, cleanliness is a value deeply ingrained from childhood. Babojola stands as a powerful, community-led example of how environmental consciousness can be woven into the very fabric of local culture and tradition.
