Swachh Bharat: Govt honours sanitation champions

New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in October 2014 launched the Swachh Bharat Mission with the aim to make India clean and open defecation-free in the next five years. Citizens across the country have taken up the task of implementing the governments vision. The central government on Thursday felicitated citizens who are driving positive behaviour change in their
communities to help eliminate open defecation and adopt safe sanitation practices.

Sushila Kanwar – Rajasthan

For 39-year-old Sushila Kanwar, the fight to end open defecation in her village started when the district collector refused to drink or eat in their village.

“In 2015, when our district collector first came, he refused to have water or tea seeing how dirty the village was. This made us feel very bad that he came to our village and refused to have anything and this is something we should be ashamed of,” said the sarpanch of the Kathar gram panchayat in Udaipur district in Rajasthan.

At the time, the newly-elected sarpanch took a vow not to sit on her official seat till her gram panchayat was declared open defecation free.

“The next day we called everyone from our panchayat. We made members of the village aware about how dirty the village was, how people were still going in the open to defecate and encouraged them to build toilets in their houses. Some people agreed but the others were adamant that our forefathers have been going in the open to defecate,” she said.

Sushila Kanwar, sarpanch, Gram Panchayat Kathar, Udaipur, Rajasthan. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Not one to give up, Kanwar roped in school children from the village to spearhead the campaign to end open defecation.

“We held regular meetings and spread awareness messages on the benefits of using toilets. The people who didn’t agree, we brought in school children to implement our plans. We gave school children whistles in the morning and asked them to go to spots where people usually go to defecate. We also gave them garlands and flowers. So if the children spotted anyone, they would whistle and garland them. People soon started running with sound of whistles and got embarrassed by this. This forced them to construct toilets in their houses,” she said.

To ensure that the toilets are being used, the village now has a community programme to keep a check. If someone is found going to defecate in the open, there is a fine of Rs.250 and Rs.500 for a repeat offender.

Having constructed a toilet in her house after the Rajasthan government introduced a clause for contesting elections, Kumari felt that it brought a sense of security especially for women.

“There are 6,000 people and we got 1,450 toilets made in one month. The story is that on the day our panchayat was declared open defecation free, we once again called the district collector who had tea and snacks and I finally sat on my seat,” Kumari said proudly.

Rajesh Thapa and Roshni Limboo – Sikkim

Recognizing the waste problem in Sikkim, Rajesh Thapa, principal at Linghom Secondary School in Sikkim, encouraged his school students to find innovative ways to turn refuse into useful things.

He said, “One movement has started in the whole country spearheaded by the Prime Minister and we have an environmental friendly chief minister in Sikkim as well. The district officers all of them are proactive. There needs to some leadership activities at all levels and so we started this at the school level. When you get recognition there is more motivation.”

The school has approximately 400 students. Realizing the problem of waste management early, Thapa began such initiatives with his students in 2010.

“The students have taken back home as well. All the reuse strategies they have learnt, they have taken back home as well. We are mainly now focussing on the refuse part. We have not made any rules as such but are motivating our students not to use plastic products,” Thapa said.

His motivation comes from the fact that while problems of the environment are global, solutions are entirely local.

“We started with re-cycling oil canisters. In one single day, in a small village we managed to collect 2000 oil canisters and most of them have been converted into flower pots. It has been five years and they are still in use. Have seen a change around me … People are more conscious. If we try to collect oil canisters to make flower pots, we won’t be able to get because everyone is making flower pots and that is good feeling,” he said.

His students agree.

“We enjoy taking up waste management. It is very important for us because the world has a huge burden of plastic waste. I would want to take this further. This is my last year in this school and I will take this message to wherever I go next,” said Roshni Limboo, a class 10 student who has been working with Thapa on waste management since 2010.

Champa Devi - Himachal Pradesh

Bungrail Chowk in Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh were still following the age-old practice of staying in cowsheds during menstruation until a group of women in 2014 decided to take up the fight against this practice.

“For a girl, menstruation is something that she has to deal with for many years. I myself was very young when I was made to stay in a cowshed. It makes you feel very bad and it is also very difficult,” said 32-year-old Champa Devi who spearheaded the campaign to end this practice.

Describing her experience in the cowshed, Devi said, “There used to be the cows on one side and we used to stay on the other side. We used to get our food also in the cowshed and even our utensils were different. In a way it was as if we were untouchable.”

Mandi Vikas Abhiyaan, a group of 18 women who used to work on spreading sanitation and cleanliness messages decided to put an end to this. The group of women went house to house to ensure that the practice wasn’t being followed.

Champa Devi, village Janjheli, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

“During our house visits, people didn’t understand why it was important to end this practice. They didn’t like the fact that we were intruding in their household. We had to face a lot of anger from people who refused to change,” she said.

After struggling for one year, in April 2015 they managed to put an end to this practice.

But Devi said the fight still continues.

“While we have succeeded, there are a few houses have moved out of cowsheds and built separate rooms outside their house for women,” Devi said.

Sharanappa – Karnataka

To ensure that the message of Swachh Bharat reaches rural Karnataka, Sharanappa, a folk artist from Koppal in Karnataka decided to use traditional tunes to spread the message.

“I had seen in my village that people are not aware about sanitation and they are far behind from the rest of the world. This is when I took up the challenge of making people aware about sanitation and cleanliness. I used my profession to take the message forward,” he said.

While the message may be important, language can be a barrier.

Sharanappa, a street theatre artist from Kappal, Karnataka, Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

“I use the tune of traditional folk songs and put messages of cleanliness and sanitation in them. This subject is something that is important and since I present it to them in their local language it helps spread the message. People enjoy it and then question the authorities as well,” he said.

Having started this initiative more than 10 years ago, Sharanappa says that its key that governments take such steps as well

“My songs are about the importance of water conservation, cleanliness, education and building toilets. If we are clean then people will not have t face health complications,” he added.