Actress Kajol, who has been advocating the importance of hygiene, says government support is needed to promote sanitation standards.
“NGOs alone can’t do it. The entire country needs to talk about it. We have spoken to the government and they are helping us. We are grateful to the government for coming up with Swachh Bharat Abhiyan [Clean India Mission],” Kajol said in an interview over the phone from the US.
As the HelpAChildReach5 and Handwashing Ambassador, Kajol is in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly.
The 41-year-old Dilwale star says that children learn about good hygiene from seeing it first hand.
“As far as kids are concerned, it is important to do things ourselves first. I have learnt from my children that practise what you preach. They follow it religiously and so do I. We show kids in the UV light how one can see germs, so they understand why we ask them to wash their hands,” Kajol said.
The actress is married to actor Ajay Devgn and they have two children together — Nysa, 12, and Yug, 5.
She says that star power gives momentum to social causes. “We don’t have to explain things in detail to people... they understand the importance of hand washing. It has become easier to make them understand about basic sanitation. I play to my strength while doing this campaign, I talk and try to reach the maximum amount of people,” Kajol added.
“The campaign is growing. It is a global campaign. We are propagating it everywhere. Now people understand the importance of hand washing. We have adopted the entire state of Bihar,” she said.
The actress has been a handwashing ambassador and advocate of Lifebuoy’s HelpAChildReach5 campaign since 2013.
