Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
RAIPUR, Chattisgarh State, Sep 16 2007 (IPS) – Like other women in this largely tribal, central Indian state, Draupati Bhosale was averse to the idea of having toilets built within homes, but went along because the government was building them at heavily subsidised costs. I thought it would give me extra storage space, she said.
The Bhonsles tend their kitchen garden which, like their indoor latrine, is being copied by neighbours. Credit: Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
Launched by the federal ministry of rural development three years ago, the scheme presently covers 15 of Chattisgarh s 16 districts. Under the scheme the government builds toilets in homes against payments of Rs 600 (14 dollars). Families living below the poverty line (earning less than a dollar per day per person) can get a latrine installed by paying just Rs 125 (three dollars).
Constructing the toilets was the easy part, recalls Purnima Devangan a female health worker in Rajnandgaon district, a three-hour drive away from the state capital of Raipur. There was a huge mental block initially against actually using the latrines and instead, in most houses, the toilet area was converted into storage for wood, fuel and fodder, she said.
Chhattisgarh has one of the lowest levels of urbanisation in India. Its low population density and large tracts of hilly, forested land make the practice of open defecation seem natural.
Getting the people in Chattisgarh a state with a population of 18 million people and carved out of the larger Madhya Pradesh only seven years ago to switch to indoor toilet use, abandoning age-old practices and taboos, presented a major challenge for officials implementing the governments total sanitation campaign (TSC).
Devangan remembers the chilly reception she would get when she tried to raise sanitation issues during her rounds of homes to check on general health and ensure that the immunisation records of children and mothers were in order.
What finally made the difference was the formation of women s self help groups (SHGs) within the communities to support the health workers in convincing tribal women to put the latrines to the use they were meant for. For a long time they refused to see the advantages of indoor toilet use, said Champa Kaushik, SHG member and female motivator for the TSC in Bahtarai village, Bilaspur district. They would argue that the latrine space was too cramped and suffocating and said they thought the whole idea unhygienic. Others feared that their children would slip down the ceramic bowl.
More than sheer convenience, what may finally have convinced the women was the fact that using indoor toilets saved them from snake bites a common cause of serious injury and death in these forested areas.
Walking some distance away home in search of a suitably secluded area meant spending precious time away from daily household chores. And though few of the women would discuss it, hanging around secluded areas was an invitation to get molested.
Gradually the many practical advantages of using indoor toilets outweighed fixed notions and customs. As the idea caught on and there were visible gains in the shape of improved health, resistance began to break down rapidly says Kalpana Dubey, a community worker. She indicated the steadily reducing incidence of diseases like diarrhoea and malaria in Bahtarai village.
It helped that there were similar experiences in the neighbouring villages to compare with. In Markamtola village the indoor toilet was clearly linked to a dramatic reduction in illnesses, especially among children. Now the young ones are confident and comfortable about using indoor latrines, Dubey said.
Dubey also noticed an increase in the general awareness about sanitation and hygiene issues among the tribals as a result of the TLC drive.
Draupati has now become a motivator in the TSC. Along with the sanitation drive my husband and I began promoting the idea of maintaining a clean and green environment. We started our own kitchen garden and pretty soon others wanted to do the same too.
Chattisgarh s efforts go a long away in helping the federal government achieve its goal of totally eradicating the practice of open defecation in India by 2010. To give impetus to the TSC, the government offers cash award of Rs 100,000 (2,500 dollars) to each rural village that has achieved total sanitation.
Women are the real force behind the sanitation drive, avers Gaurav Dwivedi, the chief administrator of Bilaspur district. Women are more amenable to change, and respond to the improvements to their lifestyle and that of their families, brought about by the installation of toilets in their homes , he told IPS.
The women of Chhattisgarh enjoy a higher status than their counterparts in other parts of India and this, say demographers, is reflected in the fact that the proportion of women in the population is 933 per thousand males, high for Indian states.
The men are doing their bit too. Maya Ram, an elected local representative, has involved himself in the construction activity. I built a toilet in my own home first. Seeing this, people began asking questions and then requesting me to build toilets for them too. By now I may have constructed 100 latrines in different homes, he states proudly.
