Sulabh International gifts 108 toilets in memory of Badaun victims

In the month of May 2014, two young sisters from Katra Sahadatgunj village of Badaun district of India's Uttar Pradesh state had gone out at night to attend the call of nature. They however never returned back. Their dead bodies were found next morning hanging from a nearby tree. The gruesome murder of these two young girls was something that suddenly made India acutely aware of one of the most basic and fundamental problems faced by the country, that the absence of a toilet in a house was one of the principal reasons for incidents of rapes and sexual assaults in villages. According to UN figures, out of India’s 1.2 billion population, only 665 million have access to toilets. In fact it is quite ironical that a UN study in 2010 finds that more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet. This study says that lack of toilets and proper sanitation costs India nearly $54 billion a year through hygiene-related illnesses, lost productivity and other factors.

In most of the states of India, the situation continues to be absolutely grim and disastrous. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, almost 10 % of the population is an easy pray for deadly diseases because of lack of individual and personal hygiene. Out of total 0.6 Million villages of India, only 25000 villages have toilets available for all the village dwellers. Non maintenance of personal hygiene is the primary reason for the unhealthiness of the society of India at large. About 0.4 Million Indians suffer from Diarrhea every year. Out of which almost 90% are small children. India gets an hit of 2.4 Trillion Rupees, which is 6.4 % of the GDP, because of this personal unhealthiness. Indian Government spends 100 Billion Rupees on Rural development. Out of this only 2 Billion Rupees are spent of programmes connected with personal Hygeine and Toilets. Just because there are no toilets available within their premises, many Indian womenfolk from villages are forced to to go out in groups to defecate in open spaces in darkness before the dawn breaks. These women find this a very shameful act, which they have to perform every morning. This lack of freedom even to carry out normal needs of a human body makes big impact on psychology of these village womenfolk.

The gruesome incident in Katra Sahadatgunj village even made the prime minister, Narendra Modi, to raise the issue during his Independence Day speech in August 2014, when he said that India should strive to ensure every household had a toilet within the next four years. He asked;

“We are in the 21st century and yet there is still no dignity for women as they have to go out in the open to defecate. Can you imagine the number of problems they have to face because of this?”

A low-cost sanitation NGO from India that specializes in building low cost toilets; Sulabh International, decided to adopt this village in June 2014 in memory of the two girls. They conducted a survey and found that nearly 400 families in the village do not have proper toilets and decided to launch a campaign “toilet for every house.” Now, after just two months, Sulabh has dedicated 108 toilets decorated with marigolds and ribbons to the village, which has a population of 4,000 people, so no one has to wait for darkness to fall to attend the call of nature in the open.

In the grim scenario, there is reason for some hope. Women from the Indian state of Haryana , now seem to have taken a new lead. With rural womenfolk, giving their support to the cause, the movement appears to have caught the fascination of the village women in the state. If you ask a rural young girl in Haryana state today, about her expectations of her future bride groom, along with such usual expectations, such as being vegetarian, no vices, capable of getting a good job, a new expectation is likely to be expressed. Most of the girls would say that the future groom must have a latrine in his house. Two years back, Government of Haryana with the help of few NGO’s, started a new movement under the slogan, “No Toilets, No bride”. This movement has caught the fascination of rural womenfolk and is growing rapidly.

Sulabh International has developed a toilet suitable for villages. What is needed is a massive public relations effort to make the village folk see the light at the end of the tunnel, which not only would improve the personal health but will also protect the young girls.

3^rd September 2014

Sunset at dawn

Malin is a small village of about 40 to 50 families situated in the Ambegaon Taluk in the Pune district of Indian state of Maharashtra. The village, surrounded by a very picturesque countryside, is located on a hill slope of the western Ghat mountains, about 500 meters away from the Manchar-Asane Road and about 120 Km from the city of Pune. It is amongst a group of 60 to 65 similar villages located on hill slopes in this area.

The dawn broke over the village, on July 30^th, 2014, with an overladen dark gray sky with sheets of rain falling all over the area. The region is known to receive heavy rainfall, but since last four days, the rains were particularly incessant and heavy. A Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus leaves the village at 7.30 am everyday after taking an overnight halt in the village. But the bus stop is located at a considerable distance from the village on the main road. Six villagers had woken up early on that day to see off their children, who were taking the bus. They had the left the village. Except for them rest of the villagers and guests were very much in the village.

24 year old Vitthal Titkare was one such guest, who had come to the village to spend a holiday with his wife at her maternal home in the village. Most of the houses in the village except for a temple with a 35 feet high dome, a community centre, school and a few houses withRCC construction, were built with bricks. Also like most of villages built on hill slopes, the doors to the houses faced the slope and not the cliff. Around 7'o clock in the morning, Vitthal's brother-in-law, who was outside the house suddenly started shouting and asked everyone in the house to vacate and run outside. But before Vitthal and others could gather what was happening and move, their world sharply and abruptly came to an end. A massive landslide with large boulders and a flood of mud hit the village next instant, completely submerging and burying everyone and everything in the village under it. Within a few seconds, nothing but an eerie silence prevailed over the entire village.

Around 7.30 AM, another MSRTC bus, travelling on a daily trip from Ahupe to Manchar, approached the spot, where the village stood few minutes before. The driver usually would stop here and pick up few villagers going to Ambegaon market. That day, he had a shock of his life, as no trace of the village was seen at all. All that he could see was a vast slide filled with sticky reddish mud and boulders. He also found that there was no signal on his mobile phone. Absolutely stunned and shocked, he drove on and when he reached a spot further up, where some people were standing, he stopped and informed them about what has happened.

Within few hours Government machinery and National Disaster Rapid force (NDRF) men reached the spot with earth moving machinery. It was no easy task to reach the village because of narrow roads and incessant rains. When they reached the spot all they saw was a nicely plastered 35-foot mound. Only the temple dome was visible. Almost all the houses were destroyed. Only a couple of them are intact still. It is feared that the entire population of the village has got buried under the mud slide.

Vitthal was lucky. He was caught under a broken door. The space thus created, allowed him to breathe. Later, around 1 PM he heard the sound of the earth-movers clearing the debris. It was around 1.30pm that he was taken out by rescuers. Not everyone was so lucky. Vitthal's wife and mother-in law lost their lives, so also scores of others. As reported on 31^st July 2014 evening, 36 people were confirmed dead and some 150 still feared trapped below the mud.

Why did it happen? Geological Survey of India experts fear that it could happen again. The root cause of the landslide is believed to be the levelling of the land on the hill for cultivation. According to one expert, unlike Himalayas, which are prone to landslides because they are rocky and there is nothing to hold the soil, western Ghat mountains hill slopes are well bounded by the thick forest cover. However, indiscriminate cutting of trees is creating conditions here that can lead to such landslides. It's a deadly warning!

1^st August 2014

No Toilet? No Bride!

 

In India, out of the total population of 1.2 Billions, almost half live in rural areas. In spite of all the show casing of progress in the cities, fact remains that many rural areas still lack even the basic amenities like latrines and toilets. To have a toilette in or adjoining the house is one of the basic necessities of modern times. Unfortunately, not many rural folks seem to have understood the importance of even this basic facility. Effectively, rural womenfolk suffer the most. To avoid prying eyes, they are forced to visit the open-air toilets under cover of darkness, which can be very inconvenient at times. It is humiliating, harrowing and extremely unhealthy. Further, it leads to spread of diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid and malaria. Many rural womenfolk suffer from urinary tract infections, kidney and liver problems, because they don’t have a safe place to go Efforts to improve upon the situation of the lack of sanitation, in rural areas, have not met with much success so far. In the year 2001, a project to build latrines in rural areas was taken up with the help of World Bank. The latrines built under this scheme were used by rural folks for storage of grains or as verandahs for their houses. The reason for this failure can be very well traced to the fact that the womenfolk never participated or were not even consulted in this project. They  need the sanitation facility most and should have  been consulted about the project in the first place.
Women from the Indian state of Haryana , now seem to have taken a new lead. With rural womenfolk, giving their support to the cause, the movement appears to have caught the fascination of the village women everywhere and is spreading to other states too. If you ask any rural young girl today, about her expectations of her future bride groom, along with such usual expectations, such as being vegetarian, no vices, capable of getting a good job, a new expectation has come up. Most of the girls would say that the future groom must have a latrine in his house. Two years back, Government of Haryana with the help of few NGO’s, started a new movement under the slogan, “No Toilets, No bride”. This movement has caught the fascination of rural womenfolk and is growing rapidly.

As things stand today, the widespread and illegal practice of the abortion of female fetuses in favor of sons has already reduced percentage of women population in state of Haryana. The girls with marriageable age and their parents are not willing to marry their daughters in a family, which does not have a latrine in the house. This social pressure has brought about a welcome change. Parents, who wish to get their boys married, have started building sanitation facilities in their houses on priority.

This change has not come about without a reason. There are many direct and indirect reasons. First of all, most of the girls of marriageable age are educated at least up to matriculation level. Many have taken technical courses in addition. This basic education has brought about certain change in their attitude towards life and their expectations from it. They keep watching serials and advertisements on TV. When they watch the heroines on TV, wearing silk dresses or Jeans and Tee shirts and going to work on their own vehicles, it makes a profound impact on these young girls and no wonder that they expect higher quality of life. Five or ten years back, one could always see girls riding pillion behinds their fathers or husbands. These days’ girls driving their own scooty ( a low hp 2 wheeler motorbike) are seen often.
Mr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder director of an organization called ‘Sulabh International’, which specializes in building of low cost rural latrines, considers this ‘No Toilette?No Bride! Movement  as a bloodless coup.
There seems to be no doubt that this movement would certainly bring more self-respect and confidence back in the minds of rural womenfolk of India.

(some of the graphics are from worldbank.org site)