Bathroom Break: India’s Sanitation Crisis Is Trapping Women In A Cycle Of Violence

 http://anushayspoint.com/2014/09/05/bathroom-break-indias-sanitation-crisis-is-trapping-women-in-a-cycle-of-violence/

Source: Melinda Gates  Nov. 6, 2014.

Women and girls often travel in pairs in the dark to relieve themselves in open fields. Image credit: WaterAid.

Last week, the Thomson Reuters Foundation outlined how Bangladesh, India’s much poorer and flood-prone neighbor, has had more success building bathrooms for its citizens.

In just over a decade, Bangladesh managed to decrease the percentage of people defecating in the open from 19% in 2000 to just 3% in 2012.

However, across the border in India the picture is very different. According to the World Bank, over 600 million people, roughly 53 percent of Indian households, still use public streets and fields as bathrooms.

India’s new prime minister Modi is determined to resolve the sanitation crisis,
but will actions match his words?   Image Credit: The Hindu.

And it’s the women of India who are paying the highest price.

The shortage of basic bathroom facilities in India leaves women and girls with no option but to venture out, usually late at night, to relieve themselves in the open.

It is on their way to and from this journey that they face the risk of horrific, even deadly, attacks of sexual violence.

India’s new prime minister Modi is determined to resolve the sanitation crisis,
but will actions match his words? Image Credit: The Hindu.

The world was exposed to this shocking reality when two teenage cousins in Uttar Pradesh were found raped and hanging from a tree just this past summer.

Even though the issue is especially acute in the rural areas, mothers in the urban slums have horror stories about local men staring at them, threatening them and shouting lewd comments while women venture out to defecate in the open.

“We have had one-on-one fights with thugs in order to save our daughters from getting raped,” one mother described. “It then becomes a fight that either you [the thug] kill me to get to my daughter or you back off.”

India’s much smaller and poorer neighbor, Bangladesh has slashed its public toilet crisis. Image Credit: Flickr.

In addition to the horrifying threat of assault and harassment, not being able to access toilets has a series of health implications for women and girls from urinary tract to kidney infections, not to mention the sheer stress of not being able to access a bathroom during your monthly menstrual cycle. 

Why in 2014 are women and girls in India, the world’s largest democracy, facing so much difficulty getting to a bathroom?  At the core of this issue is the low position of women in Indian society.

Safe toilets for women and girls in India could tackle the
country’s rape crisis. Image Credit: WaterAid.

From religion to caste, Indian culture consistently degrades women to the point that they cannot even access the most basic of human rights: to remove bodily wastes with dignity and privacy.

This lack of value placed on the lives of women and girls begins at birth. Three millions girls are considered to be ‘missing ‘ in India where female infanticide, the killing of baby girls, is so common that the UN has called it the most dangerous place in the world to be born a girl.

To a large extent, India is an unsafe place for women period. Last year, a series of high-profile gang-rape cases were globally publicised, and it is estimated that every 30 minutes a woman in India is raped. Delhi is considered the country’s rape capital. 

Bangladeshi experts state that people must feel invested in the toilets
they build in order to actually use them. Image Credit: WaterAid.

Today in India, it is easier to get a mobile phone than find a toilet. How can a country that has more Internet users than the United States, still not provide its citizens with decent latrines? 

Although social attitudes towards women and girls in India will take time to evolve, the issue of building accessible bathrooms is something we can resolve right now and right away, and it appears as though progress is on the horizon.

The country’s new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi addressed the issue in a landmark Independence Day speech, vowing that his government would put “toilets before temples,” and eliminate open defecation. And last week, the organization Sulabh International unveiled 108 cheap new toilets in the same village where the two girls were raped and hung.

“I believe no woman must lose her life just because she has to go out to defecate,” the founder of the charity, Bindeshwar Pathak said.

Building safe toilets for women and girls across India may be the most fitting tribute to those two girls who were denied dignity in life and death. But how India tackles this public health crisis will determine the direction of the women’s rights movement in the country for years to come.

Meet an amazing group of women in Delhi who banded together to convince the local government to build a toilet facility in their community. Not only did they get the project approved, but they made sure the design of the facility met the needs of women and girls, and they’re checking in every day to make sure the construction is on schedule.

These empowered, strong women – and the millions of women around the world like them – are the reason we are so optimistic about the future.

Meet the woman who sold her ornaments to build a toilet

By  JONATHAN ISBIT    Rediff.com   November 06, 2014

There has been a lot of promise from New Delhi to build toilets for women

Back in rural Maharashtra, Sangita Awhale has taken the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative forward.

A villager from Saikheda in Washim district sold her mangalsutra (a sacred necklace worn by married Hindu women) to build a toilet.

"Toilet is a basic necessity, compared to ornaments. I sold all my ornaments and decided to build the toilet," Sangita told reporters.

She was honoured on Thursday by Maharashtra Rural Development Ministry

Minister Pankaja Munde in Mumbai. "Toilets are not there in many places in the state and country. As a result, women face problems," Munde said.

"During my first term as a legislator, I allocated 25 per cent of my funds for building toilets," the minister said. "Our target is to build maximum number of toilets and ensure that women don't have to face any inconvenience on this count," she said.

The minister lauded Sangita's initiative and presented her with a new as a token of appreciation to create awareness about the need for toilets.

Swachh Abhiyan inspires devotees on Gurpurab eve

Maria Akram, TNN | Nov 6, 2014, 12.04AM IST

Swachh Bharat drive

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is finding resonance among people and it was witnessed probably for the first time in a religious procession. When a procession on the occasion of Gurpurab was taken out in Chandni Chowk, people, especially the young men and women, started cleaning the littered roads.

Every year a lot of devotees from Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib, Chandni Chowk to Gurdwara Nank Piao near Rana Pratap Bagh go distributing food items, fruits, sweets as prasad along the way. Usually, the entire route is littered with paper plates and cups which are cleaned the next morning by the sanitation staff.

"It is for the first time that such a thing is witnessed in the past five decades. A group of 50 young boys and girls cleaned the entire area and carried the waste in mini-trucks moving along with the procession.

The group also cleaned pavements and picked up garbage lying unattended. The stretch was spic and span after the procession was over," said Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary, Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal.

Impressed by such efforts, people in Chandni Chowk have suggested that North Corporation make it a norm. "Religious processions, immersion in Yamuna and bhandaras and langar in public places ruin the area. This initiative should be welcomed and made mandatory," said Bhargava.

A similar proposal was mooted by the municipal commissioner in 2013 in the form of sanitation cess, by penalizing people who litter after holding religious functions in public areas. "But the proposal was rejected. It is good if people are becoming aware and taking initiatives on their own," said a senior North Corporation official.

When asked, some members in the procession said it is not just seva for them but an effort to keep Delhi clean. "In our religion we have seva. It's better to clean the streets that we litter. In other countries too people clean the area after events," said Gurmeet Kaur, who was sweeping the road

Ward Watch: A risky and slushy place along the Vaigai: Tamil Nadu

A dangerous sewage channel with no walls or fence is located in Subedar Thoppu 
By S. Poorvaja, www.thehindu.com   November 4, 2014

For vehicle users and pedestrians who have to pass through Subedar Thoppu in Pankajam Colony, safety has become a thing of the past. A sewage channel for the area, which originates in the street, is dangerously located with no walls or a fence, putting the lives of people at risk.

“The open drain has been lying exposed for years without a fence or a wall. This road is used by a number of schoolchildren as well as persons who come to the butcher and provision shop located here. They are at a constant risk of falling into it,” said M. Ponraj, a resident.  The residents of Ward 53, where the open sewage channel is located, claimed that sewage had been lying stagnant for years. “It has also contaminated groundwater and often a stench emanates from the water we use at home,” Mr. Ponraj added. The residents said they made a request for a protective wall or a concrete slab to cover the channel to prevent the risk of people or vehicles falling into it. Ward councillor Thangam Dhakshinamoorthy from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam said a proposal had been submitted to the corporation authorities but to no avail.

“We also received complaints about mosquito problems because of stagnant sewage. Work needs to be taken up immediately on the sewage channel but the corporation has not allocated funds for the ward,” she said. The ward, which includes the sprawling Teppakulam, has many of its roads in a pathetic condition, pointed out the councillor herself. The residents further stated that no road had been laid in the last three years. “The bus stop near Nirmala Girls Higher Secondary School on Kamarajar Salai gets flooded the minute it starts raining. After repeated requests for repair work, a proposal has finally been accepted and work will begin soon,” Ms. Thangam said.

Residents of Pankajam Colony, Vadivel Nagar, A.A. Road and Thangam Nagar unequivocally called for attention to the condition of roads. “There is water stagnation whenever it rains on our narrow streets which are thickly populated as well,” said P. Pandiammal, a resident of Pankajam Colony First Street.

Safety concerns

Since a chunk of the ward’s area lies along the banks of the Vaigai, residents are also concerned about safety. “There used to be police patrol in the area at least twice a day. Police personnel used to be stationed at vulnerable areas. In their absence, chain-snatching and petty thefts are on the rise,” said N. Vanniarajan, a snack vendor.

“We used to go for walk early in the morning and in the evening, but we now find it difficult to venture out, as antisocial elements also frequent the road along the riverbank,” he added. Residents along the riverbank further stated that streetlights in the area too had stopped functioning. “While we have tried to solve small issues of residents here, we are often sidelined when it comes to allotment of funds since we are not from the ruling party,” alleged Ms. Thangam.

“Even the allotments our neighbouring wards 51 and 52 receive do not come to ward 53. Only if the ward is considered for infrastructure improvement – projects such as laying of paver block roads – will our residents be satisfied,” she added.

Swachh Bharat: a scheme or a pipe dream?

Pushpa M. Bhargava, The Hindu, November 3, 2014
 

Comments (126)   

By AP

“We cannot talk of Swachh Bharat, ignoring what happens in our villages where poverty is the greatest polluter.”

 

If Prime Minister Modi is serious about Swachh Bharat, he must provide leadership in converting the slogan into a viable multi-faceted programme

Who does not want, or hasn’t wanted, a clean India the public places of which are today probably the dirtiest and the most polluted in the world? 

The question one must ask is: why it has been so, and what has not been done to change the situation for the better? Otherwise, Swachh Bharat will only remain a slogan, like Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi Hatao.’ She was very upset when I once asked her in all humility what exactly she wanted to hatao (eradicate), what she wanted to replace it with, and how.

It is strange that while much has been said about Swachh Bharat, no one appears to have pointed out that Indians are traditionally and culturally clean people. If the country looks dirty to a visitor — as it truly is — the biggest culprit is the government which is unclean in ways more than one!

Just drive from the old airport in my city, Hyderabad, to the new airport via Tarnaka (a distance of 50 km). Sidewalks, if they are there, are broken, encroached, or otherwise dysfunctional. There are mounds of mud and garbage on the side of the road which have been there for years. The buildings acquired to widen the road have not been demolished and have remained abandoned for years.

There is leftover construction material such as broken stones that line the pavements of roads. Whenever there is construction, one often finds unnecessary encroachment. In many places, road dividers are non-functional. The poor condition of roads can lead to numerous health issues for users. Even elite residential localities do not seem to be free of these problems. 

Non-functional municipality

The fact is that there is no professional expertise in the Municipal Corporation to keep the city clean. Combined with total apathy, it creates an irremediable situation.

This deplorable situation is compounded by corruption. There is virtually no supervision when a civil work contract is given by the Municipal Corporation or Municipality, for example, for road repair. It is the responsibility of the contractor to remove all the construction material or waste, but it is just pushed to the side of the road to save money that would be otherwise spent on its transportation and disposal — and no one cares. Not surprisingly the only places that are clean are the military and the defence areas. Common garbage bins, where they are provided by the government, are overflowing, besides being an eyesore. The fact is that once you leave areas which come within the purview of civil administration, India is substantially clean. We are thus a country where ‘private’ places are clean but ‘public’ places are dirty.

It is not that the citizens in our cities and towns do not contribute to public filth. They do and there are two reasons for that. Firstly, there are no waste bins in public places where people can dispose their waste, so they simply throw it on the road or the sidewalk if it exists. 

Secondly, it is about human psychology. If the place is clean and maintained clean, the tendency of a visitor or a user is not to make it dirty. On the other hand, if the place is already dirty, the tendency is not to worry about making it dirtier. In this connection, let me share an experience. In Hyderabad, we have a scientific research laboratory called the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). It has been around for more than 25 years and has had an unbroken tradition of clinical cleanliness.

Once a year, it has an open day when more than 10,000 visitors come to the laboratory. At the end of the day, when all the visitors have gone, the place is just as clean as it was to begin with. The visitors simply use the waste bins which are always within sight no matter where the visitors are in the campus. Deep in their mind, they do not want to dirty a place which looks spotlessly clean. Kolkata metro would be another example.

How then can we talk of Swachh Bharat when the majority in the country has no access to clean toilets, and the environment is so badly polluted? As far as I know, there is much talk but no detailed workable solution to provide clean toilet facility to every family — either in villages or in cities. Every politician wants to do it but nobody really does it or even has an idea of how to go about doing it. Operationally, it is not easy.

As an example of the government’s apathy toward clean toilets, let me cite the case of the erstwhile Paryavaran Bhawan in the CGO Complex at Lodi Road, New Delhi. I used to visit the sixth floor of this building to attend a meeting of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), generally once a month. The only common western-style toilet on this floor had no seat for as long as I could remember. If I needed to use one, I had to request for permission of the Additional Secretary of the Department of Environment and Forests who was the Chairman of GEAC, to allow me to use his private toilet. And to expect toilet paper in a western-style toilet in a government building is to ask for the Moon.

Needed, a holistic definition

Then, there is the question of environment. Can we really have Swachh Bharat when our environment is so polluted? 

Finally, we have to consider the state of our villages where 70 per cent of India lives. Can we talk of Swachh Bharat, ignoring what happens in our villages where poverty is the greatest polluter? Can any scheme of cleaning up our villages be viable if, for example, we do not provide village children access to high-quality schools? Doesn’t education, including vocational education, provide the greatest resource for alleviating poverty? Thus, to think of Swachh Bharat as an achievable objective would be a folly unless equal emphasis is laid on several other objectives such as high-quality universal education.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi is serious about Swachh Bharat, he must provide leadership in converting what is a slogan into a viable multi-faceted programme, no matter how difficult or challenging it is going to be.

(Pushpa Mittra Bhargava is Chairman, Council of Social Development, Southern Regional Centre.)

126 Comments