Indo-Canadian climbing the `Summit of Dignity'

Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa, made famous by American prized novelist Ernest Hemingway. The Swahili meaning of Kilimanjaro is `We failed to climb it,' although it is not as arduous as Mt Everst. Yet the mountain helps people to draw motifs for their actions. An Indo-Canadian businessman, Girish Agarwal, also drew from the climb of Kilimanjaro the motif for his charity, `Summit for Dignity.' He had collected $40,000 for his expedition to provide for the basic needs of Indian schools. Girish's motto is `Cleanliness is next to godliness.' If this is inculcated among schoolchildren, they would become better citizens. He believes that, going by the 2011 Census, some 600 million Indians lacked basic facilities. About 45% of girls schools lacked enough toilets. Where the facility was available, it was one toilet for 40 students. But many schools had some 250 children each. This was the ground for causing infections. Because of the situation, it was indirectly contributing to the increased drop-out rate in the schools. In one school at Jamshedupur, which is an industrial town with a steel mill and many big companies, there was one school from which some 200 students had dropped out owing to lack of basic facilities. It was against this background that Girish started off his `Summit for Dignity.' He was born in Mumbai and grew up in Delhi and studied with the co-operation of parents and neighbours. That was why he was concentrating on schools. Girish entered into an agreement with the Agakhan Development Network to build 100,000 toilets in homes, 528 toilets in schools and 26 community toilet complexes. On his part, he would like to raise Rs 1.67 crore. Towards this end, after Kilimanjaro, he would like to climb the other peaks.