Improving the sanitation situation in India

(1) As I have indicated elsewhere before, people themselves should take responsibility, individually and collectively, for cleaning and maintaining the private and public facilities (toilets and drains etc.) and not just look for someone else to do the work for them (including the Govt. etc.). This change in attitude and approach regarding sanitation is necessary. I also gave an example of my late father on this issue - he and others used to regularly clean the sewer so that the area for drinking water fountain for the village would stay clean - http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/coffeehouse/Sanitation-in-India-867351.htm.

(2) People, even those living in small and inadequate spaces and having insufficient water and facilities these days, regularly have large families and more number of kids, usually beyond the means / resources and mainly in tune with their religions. This type of mindset of people needs to change – they should be educated about the need for a family according to their personal resources and not some ancient edict in their religion (when there were far fewer people in the world and majority of kids used to die in the first few years after birth).

(3) Some religion persons (swamis, mahatmas, evangelists etc.) indirectly encourage people engaged in cleaning and sanitation work to give it up, even implying that it is menial, lowly and not worth doing. There are also the financial inducements in the name of religion to take people away from cleaning jobs. This should stop immediately. Moreover, the workers doing the cleaning and sanitation work need to be recognized, appreciated and paid properly for their valuable contribution to society – “Aiding the society as a janitor (bhangi)” - http://www.geocities.com/lamberdar/dalit.html

(4) At present the Govt., through its caste based quotas and reservations, is also giving a negative impression about the cleaning and sanitation work, and this is encouraging people (including children from sanitation workers’ families) to go into other types of jobs (mainly office work). As a result, there are less numbers of people available to work in sanitation, causing the environment and facilities to get dirtier. This should also change. Govt. needs to make the sanitation profession more lucrative so that people working in it make more money and are able to pay for their children’s education etc. themselves and not rely on Govt.’s caste quotas and reservations to help them. Similarly, the sanitation work should be made easier and mechanized so that workers don’t have to handle filth with their bare hands etc. These changes in working conditions coupled with more money for sanitation work will lead to additional people, even from the current non-cleaning families, being drawn into cleaning and sanitation jobs. And that will be a good thing for the environment and society - http://www.geocities.com/lamberdar/dalit.html

Refer to APPENDIX below on related information (added: Sept. 16, 2008).

APPENDIX
Open air toileting in the fields etc. is not acceptable

Open air toilets and toileting, such as in open spaces including the agricultural fields, is not good. It is extremely unhealthy, unhygienic, dirty, nauseating and bad for the environment. Any suggestion or talk in its favor is ill-advised.

A few years ago, I was building a house in my village and needed to buy 20 bamboos for the construction of a scaffold. I arranged for the trees from an old widow residing in a nearby village. She had a patch of land, among crop fields, with a bamboo grove right in the middle of it.

After settling everything with her, I sent four workers of mine to cut and bring back the bamboos. But about an hour later, they came back empty and told me that they wouldn’t go near that bamboo grove. It seems that some people from the nearby village had been using that area (under the bamboos) as an open latrine.

I went there and took a look myself. The first reaction was extreme nausea. There was no place to walk or stand without stepping on feces. Moreover, the stench was horrible. I could see that selecting the proper and mature trees in the grove, and cutting and moving them out from there would be a very filthy and nauseating task. Feeling quite disgusted, I returned to my worksite.

I realized that I did not have much choice except to go and bring back bamboos from that grove for my construction.

Next morning I talked to my workers again. I offered to go with them to bamboo grove and help them select and cut the trees. I also promised to pay them double the wage for that day. In addition, they were told that after they return from that assignment, they would get free time and soap etc. from me to clean themselves properly. After some convincing by me, they agreed.

We went back to the grove with axes and ropes etc., selected the right kind of bamboo trees, cut them and carried them back to the worksite. Needless to say, in spite of successfully completing the task, it was quite a stomach-turning experience.

The idea of open air toilets, even in the middle of fields, is neither healthy nor environmentally safe and friendly. It will lead to extremely filthy conditions, and farmers etc. who have to walk and work in such fields will have a very hard time.

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By: Dr. Subhash C. Sharma
Email:
[email protected]
Date: Aug. 23, 2008

link to: Related topics by the author

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