1. INDIAmay have acquired global
acknowledgement as an emerging superpower
with the fastest growing economy, an economic
giant of Southeast Asia, but it continues to retain
the record of being the international capital of
open defecation, with 597 million people — as
per a World Health Organisation-Unicef report,
2014 – letting go, appropriately enough, in the
open. Accounting for 58 per cent of total open
defecation, it has long surpassed neighbours like
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and so on.
As per the report, Bangladesh accounts for only
three per cent, Pakistan for 15 per cent and both
Sri Lanka and China two per cent, compared to
India’s 58 per cent tabulated on a global scale.
It also happens to be a country with more
households owning a mobile phone than a toilet,
according to National Sample Survey Office data.
Having apparently understood the dubious
significance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
rebranded the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan as the
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and has sought to set
matters right. The campaign has gained impetus,
gaining the shape of a mass movement and yet,
sadly enough, 40 per cent of the people in West
Bengal still defecate in the open.
Ironically enough, long before the SBA gained
momentum, Nadia district in West Bengal
initiated a community-based movement under the
leadership of PB Salim, district magistrate and
collector, to make the place an Open Defecation
Free zone by March 2015.
“We have already constructed 26 million
household latrines through our Sobar Souchagar
project and more will be completed by March,”
said a district magistrate determined to make his
jurisdiction the first ODF-free district in the state.
And here is where the district scores over the
Indian government’s targeting 2019 as the year to
ensure this status.
The percentage of open defecation in
neighbouring countries, especially Bangladesh,
served as the trigger, said Salim. “The
convergence of available resources came as a
solution. Convergence is done under three
flagship schemes, namely the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,
the National Rural Livelihoods Mission and
Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan,” he said. Nowhere else in
the country is a programme of this nature
executed through a self-help group, and this is a
unique feature, he added.
Labourers are paid through the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme and there’s a 10-day residential training
for masons to hone their skills. Two permanent
training facilities have been setup, one each at
Nabadwip and Chapra, and more than 1000
masons have passed the grade so far.
Each toilet comes for Rs 10,900 in the rural
areas, of which Rs 900 is paid by the
beneficiary, Rs 5400 is given by the
MGNREGA and Rs 4, 600 comes from the
SBA. A similar project is in the pipeline for
the urban area. “We have identified 12,440
houses in the survey,” said Salim. Urban
toilets toilets cost Rs 13,000 apiece, of
which Rs 1,000 will be paid by the
beneficiary, Rs 2,000 by the municipality
and the rest by the Sobar Souchagar
project. Following completion, the Pratichi
Trust and Unicef will assess the entire
project before declaring Nadia an Open
Defecation-Free zone.
Rural sanitary marts have been playing an
important role in this direction, with
various NGOs and Self-Help Groups
chipping in. These sanitary marts are
involved in producing materials needed for
the construction of toilets such as concrete
pillars, ceramic rural pans, concrete rings,
lids, bricks and so on.
Siben Bhattacharya, district coordinator,
sanitation, said that “in 1996, Unicef
wanted to initiate the sanitation process
and hence they came up with the idea of an
organisation, now known as sanitary marts,
which will initiate the process. The
government and Unicef together started
sanitary marts in 1996, then known as an
alternative delivery mechanism”.
He added that “initially there was a
project that manufactured toilets for Rs
5,500 apiece. It was started in 2002 and meant
only for those Above (the) Poverty Line, without
any subsidy. In 2012, the NBA provided only Rs
5,500 per latrine, while the district magistrate said
anything less than Rs 10,000 wouldn’t be a
sustainable model. Besides, he stressed on
behavioural change through inter-personal
communication as only construction wouldn’t
help. It must be made demand-based”.
Sakda Sanitary Mart, one of the leading providers
in the district, a model unit, if one may add,
serves seven gram panchyats in the Krishnanagar
I, Hanskhali and Chapra areas. It constructs not
only household latrines but even community
conveniences, doing the needful for
melas and even providing 124
latrines for the recent election in
Krishnanagar.
The ideal latrine pit should be
four feet deep so as not to pollute
groundwater required for various
purposes such as drinking,
cleaning, washing, etc. “The honeycomb
system has been put in place to absorb
methane gas,” said Bhattacharya. “Sakda
Sanitary Mart is using gutkha to absorb
methane from the faeces. Every layer has
a mechanism that helps the soil absorb
the liquid component of feaces and the
solid part gets composed in the pit.” He
said each of the pits could be employed
for five to six years if, on an average, five
people use it. Explaining, he said that “an
adult excretes 250 grams on a daily basis,
of which 80 per cent is liquid. The lack of
oxygen causes reaction in the remaining
50 grams of faecal matter. Three-fourth of
it is eaten away by germs. Eventually, 12.5
grams of faecal matter is left, which is
equal to two and half spoons”.
Five rings constitute one pit and each
latrine comes with two pits. When one pit
gets filled up, the other can be used by
lifting just one cover at the Y-junction
that connects both the pits and the toilet.
Any one person of a household can do it. After
one and half year the whole substance will
become soil.
The superficial structure of a latrine is very
simple and can be constructed within a day. A
total of 262 workers, including masons, work at
Sakda Sanitary Mart and on an average around 86
latrines can be constructed on a monthly basis.
The SSM has four production centres and 112
such sanitary marts exist in the whole district.
Each gram panchahyat has a minimum of one
such sanitary mart. Bhattacharya said that
“108,000 latrines were constructed in four
months and, on an average, 900 were constructed
per day in a bid to reach our goals”.
A sense of hygiene is very visible in the villages
of Sakda. Siuli Murmu, a resident, said, “We had
so many problems earlier. Owners of the land
where we used to defecate would always abuse
and threaten us.” Now she is happy as she no
longer needs to go through such a harrowing
experience.
Echoing her sentiments, Basudev Biswas said,
“There is no dignity in open defecation. These
newly constructed toilets have made our lives
easier and way better.”
Salim did not limit his campaign on to the
construction of toilets but made a holistic
approach towards the problem of open
defecation. He highlighted its harmful effects
citing the lack of hygiene and sanitation facilities
contributing to “our high neonatal deaths,
diseases like diarrhoea”.
His approach is reaping results. Chinta Murmu,
a resident of a tribal village in Sakda, said, “We
don’t even let our children defecate in the open
now. We know what health hazards it can cause
all of us.”
Participation of Self-Help Groups is one aspect
that renders this programme unique. One such
group is owned and run by Sona Har Bibi. “On an
average, 50 rings are constructed per day and two
SHG women construct one toilet superstructure
per day,” she said. She has 15 women working for
her, and they used to make jams and pickles. Her
group needs to cater to the needs of 2,087
households and so far they have already served
935.
As an essential component of this cleanliness
drive, schools of the district play an extremely
effective role. “There are 4240 schools here with
805,000 students, all of them effective change
agents. Whatever they learn in school can be used
to influence the behaviour of their parents at
home,” said a teacher.
Kamalpur Adarsha Vidyapith For Girls stands
out for maintaining spotless cleanliness,
maintenance and awareness of health and
sanitation. Over 90 per cent of its students come
from a low-income group and are first generation
learners. Arsenic-free water with eight taps is
provided to 618 students and liquid soap and
hand santizers are provided as laid out by the
Sarva Siksha Mission. The total number of urinals
and toilets stand at 13 and eight respectively –
one urinal for every 48 students and one toilet for
every 77.
Ankita Day, a Class V student, expressed pride
being a part of the school. “I consider my school
to be the best. The cleanliness and hygiene drive
has set it apart from other schools. As we grow up
with these good habits, we take a step forward
towards curbing pollution and creating a healthy
world for tomorrow.”
“Students are being instructed to follow clean
habits at home, too, or else the whole purpose is
defeated,” said Kalyani Sarkar, assistant
headmistress.
Going the extra mile to ensure hygiene, the
KAVG has installed a sanitary napkin vending
machine and incinerator. Solid Liquid Waste
Management is another component of entire
programme and the Brahmbhanagar Somoibay
Krishi Unayan Samity in Krishnanagar I block runs
one such ambitious project wherein the practice
is implemented and vermicompost is produced.
The entire setup consists of three sections,
namely SLWM sector, godown and a horticulture
area. The entire set-up spans a large area with 10
workers, on an average, working at the site on
any given day. They are supplied by a local self-
help group called Aponjon.
Akbar Ali Dhabak, the man in charge, explained
the process and said, “We collect vegetable waste,
save for ginger, garlic, onion, and banana plants,
from around 400 houses, water hyacinths from
the locality and cowdung is purchased.” The
ginger, garlic and onion waste might kill the
worms that “we use to produce the fertiliser.
Chemical fertilisers and pesticides ruin the quality
of the produce and cause substantial harm to
land and health. Vermicompost improves quality
as well as quantity of cultivation. We grow carrots,
capsicum, tomatoes, cauliflower, etc, in the
horticulture section. People can easily see the
difference. There isn’t any harmful side effect of
vermicompost,” he added.
Bimal Chakraborty, secretary of the
Brahmakumari Skus, said, “We sell our products
in Nadia. Vermicompost needs to be used within
a month or two of production. Forty per cent
moisture is needed for the product to retain its
utility and it will give you the best yield.”
“The locations of a SLWMS site should be out of
a populated area and must be commercially
sustainable and, per block, there is one SLWMS.
Waste should be recycled and not just thrown
away,” said Salim. He added that vermicompost
was used by the residents of seven organic
villages that came under the project of a Border
Area Development Village.
Religious organisations and leaders have played
an important role in affording momentum to the
ODF-free and clean Nadia drive. The International
Society for Krishna Consciousness, local imams
and church heads have all been roped in to
played an effective role. Promotion of the Sobar
Souchaghar was done during Friday sermons by
local imams.
Some people have alleged that they were
counted as per a base line survey for the toilet
project, but Salim said, “Many families fragmented
after our survey. We provide toilets per household
and not per family.” Plans for bathrooms and
tubewells have already been thought about and
will be done in the second phase.
cyan magenta yellow black
cyan magenta yellow black
DAYThis is a must read for anyone
wanting to understand the intricacies
of the dispute... A review 3
1 MARCH 2015
Given the bovine threat, cows
should be targeted in the
search for cancer causers 4
In a country that boasts more mobile phones per
household than a toilet, Nadia in West Bengal is
making a credible bid to eradicate open
defecation. subhra prasanta das reports
A toilet constructed under the Sobar
Souchaghar programme.
PB Salim, Nadia district magistrate,
with women participants.
Kamalpur Adarsha Vidyapith’s
vocational training room for girls.
SSaanniittiisseedd sseennssiittiivviittyy
Preparing toilet rings.