Following on from Part-I last week. First in this part, excerpts from Out of the fields, behind closed doors by Tasneem Nashrulla (emphasis mine). This gives some hope.

*** Excerpts Begin ***

Like most women who prefer to visit the ladies’ room together, the women of Sakhara village in Vidarbha’s Yavatmal district also answered their nightly nature’s call in groups. Except it wasn’t for midnight banter, but for their safety.

Because right till early 2005, the ladies’ latrine in this tiny hamlet, located about 753 km north-east of Mumbai, was an open field.

Today, this village housing 62 families has 50 functional toilets. In November 2005, it received an award from the state government as the first ‘open defecation-free village’ in the Pandharkawda block of Yavatmal.

…“We used to sit down, look around here and there to make sure there were no men around, quickly do our business and scamper off,” grins Anusay Gonivar, a feisty 60-year-old and one of the village’s key SHG members.

While the men’s loo (read open ground) was a fair distance away, squatting in a field unprotected from prying eyes was unnerving for the women, especially at night.

.

“We had to wake up our neighbours for company,” says Pushpabai Gutmulkuvar (54), another SHG member.

…Much of rural India has benefited from the government’s Nirmal Gram Yojana introduced in 2000, to ensure open-defecation free villages. Nearly 3,450 villages in Maharashtra have been declared open-defecation free thanks to this scheme, which highlights the issue of rural sanitation through the building of toilets in panchayats, blocks and districts.

Ironically, Sakhara’s inhabitants used the 20 government-sponsored toilets built in 2000 as storehouses.

“The government only made outer structures, which fell apart in a few months. There were no seats, no pipes; not even a door,” grumbles Gutmulkuvar. “Neither did they teach us how to use it or educate us about its benefits.”

In April 2005, with the aid of local UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) representatives, the women SHGs devised a sanitation plan for Sakhara.

Each of the groups pooled in Rs 500 for raw materials to build toilets costing Rs 300 to Rs 1,500.

…The government’s shoddy latrines were rebuilt with cemented bricks, commodes, flush tanks, drainage pipes — and doors. Makeshift toilets were also constructed in homes and the local primary school.

Once the toilets were ready, the most challenging part for the women was to convince the shy villagers to use them.

“They thought it was unhygienic to defecate and urinate within their own houses,” says Gonivar.

Through gram panchayat meetings, the women helped locals understand the advantages of lavatories. “It was strange at first,” …But it soon caught on.

…The women know they have earned this praise. “Our village is good, but we have worked hard to make it so,” says Gonivar.

*** Excerpts End ***

But a lot still needs to be done.

To round off this series,  pl. read this concluding paragraph from Tavleen Singh’s recent article, ‘Gandhian’ field trips:

Instead of the tokenism of renaming the NREGA in his name, what about a campaign to create sanitary living conditions in our villages in Gandhiji’s name? He was one of the few Indian leaders who was appalled by the squalour of rural Indian life and wrote about it eloquently.

There is much that can be done in Gandhiji’s name that would truly honour his memory. But, for that we need to get beyond the empty symbolism of sleepovers in Dalit huts. It mocks the misery of the poorest of our citizens to do this. They do not live in squalour because they like to, but because they have no choice.

Their squalid living conditions, their shameful poverty, bear witness to how little has changed for the Dalits since Gandhiji first began his fight against untouchability. What is sadder still is that Dalit leaders like Mayawati so quickly forget where they came from.

Related Posts:

On Open Defecation, Hygiene and India Shining – Part I

“A plea for sanitation” – excerpts