OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Basic sanitation is one of India’s biggest public health threats. As part of the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), the government initiated a competition among the villages of India. The Nirmal Gram Puruskar – which are cash based awards – was started to recognize the efforts for fully covered PRIs(panchayati raj institutions) and those individuals and institutions who have contributed significantly in ensuring 100% sanitation coverage in their area of operation.

Total Sanitation Campaign is a comprehensive programme to ensure sanitation areas with broader goals to eradicate the practice of open defecation. The key intervention areas are individual households, school sanitation and hygiene education.

A healthy competition is sweeping across India for the Nirmal Gram Puruskar, an award that brings dignity and improved quality of life. Every panchayat wants to do better than others and every panchayat wants to be healthier, cleaner and greener than others.

This year, more than 9,675 gram panchayats, 120 block panchayats and three district panchayats competed for this award. On May 4, 2007, the President of India gave Nirmal Gram Puruskars to 4,429 gram panchayats and 8 block panchayats across the country for a achieving the target of total sanitation.

To add vigour to the campaign, on October 2, 2003, the government kicked off this novel incentive scheme for fully sanitized and defecation-free gram panchayats, under the Nirmal Gram Puruskar. The main goal was to eradicate the practice of open delectation by 2010. The whole concept of Nirmal Gram Puruskar is to reward those districts, blocks and Gram panchayats which have achieved full sanitation coverage.

TSC, as part of reform principle was initiated in 1999, when Central Rural Sanitation Programme was restructured, making it demand-driven and people-centric. The Nirmal Gram Puruskar is based on population criteria, is an annual award and the first such award ceremony was organized on February 24, 2005.

The practice of open defecation in India comes from combination of factors – the most prominent of them being the traditional behaviour pattern and lack of awareness of people about associated health hazards. Although considerable progress has been made in last few years, evidence shows that as per the Census data of 2001, only 36.4 per cent of total population in India has latrines within/attached to their houses.

The topic of toilets often makes people uncomfortable. Yet millions of people, especially the poor are forced to defecate in open fields or on roadside ditches, causing serious health risks to them and others as well.

According to the report of the UN Works in India (May 2007), sanitation coverage is now 40% in rural India, but even so, everyday, an estimated 100,000 tonnes of faeces are deposited on the ground rather than in toilets.

The Government of India has also decided to sanction TSC projects in all districts of the country by 2006-2007, so as to achieve full sanitation coverage by 2012. It has also been planned to provide all rural schools and anganwadis with safe drinking water and sanitation during the 10th Five Year Plan.

With sustained intervention from government and community, many achievements have been recorded since the launching of TSC. More than 1.09 crore household toilets have been constructed since 2001, of which 89 lakh toilets are for BPL families alone. Sanitation coverage is estimated to have increased from 22% in 2001 to 30% in 2004. Even school sanitation coverage is estimated to have increased significantly from 9.15% in 1993 to 45% in 2004-05.

Rajasthan gets a pat on the back for having improved its performance in the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). The Union Ministry of Rural Development rates Rajasthan as one of the better performing states in terms of progress to achieve access to basic total sanitation and is on track to meet its 2015 MDG targets on sanitation.

But the pace will have to be considerably accelerated to meet MDG targets of 57 per cent sanitation coverage and to gear up for the International Year of Sanitation 2008.

The Ministry of Rural Development and UNICEF feel that for successful implementation of TSC, awareness building and social mobilisation of all segments of the society are necessary, where PRIs have a crucial role to play. In this context, NGOs and community based organisations also play an important role in generating awareness, advocacy and educative campaigning to spread the message in villages.

This programme gained momentum as a community led and people centred programme, involving Information, Education and Communication as the core strategy for bringing about attitudinal and behavioural changes towards relevant sanitation and hygiene.

UNICEF’s environmental programme implemented along with the government in 14 states at the national level is designed to help with the complex problem of sanitation and hygiene. The programme supports the total sanitation campaign (TSC), stimulating demand for toilets. The sanitation facilities comprise the following components: latrines, the sewerage/drainage system for disposal for sewerage and solid waste disposal facilities.

Dr Satish Kumar, Rajasthan State Chief of UNICEF, said in an interview that hygiene and sanitation are related to high IMR, malnutrition and increased diarrhoea cases.

He focused on NGO’s role as crucial as programmes need to be implemented in the form of social movement with proper communication strategies encompassing emotional and psychological mindset of the community. He quoted figures, according to which, poor sanitation, hygiene and unsafe water claim the lives of an estimated over 1.5 million children under the age of 5 every year.

When international delegates from seven countries came to India in November 2006 to attend a programme hosted by UNICEF, in association with the Government of India, on how India is leading the world in saving children’s lives by providing access to safe water and sanitation facilities, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Minister for Rural Development, said: “The real indicator for human development is not the increase in GDP or rise in the Sensex, but whether all households have access to sanitary toilets and safe drinking water.”

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “Sanitation is more important than political independence. Making every village ‘nirmal’ (clean and healthy) is central to all development efforts. Clean, green and healthy villages are an enduring sign of India’s progress.”

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