Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin

Introduction

To end open defecation and adopt safe sanitation practices in Rural India, Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin was launched. Proper containment of excreta is a must for preventing the faecal oral transmission of pathogens. Many a socio- economic parameters of our society is directly affected by the magnitude of practice of open defecation. These include Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate, number of school dropouts, average life expectancy, etc. The district administration of Pudukkottai is committed and is working towards making Pudukkottai an Open Defecation Free(ODF) district.

The Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu has been working for improving rural sanitation coverage right from 1986.

 The first such program was the Central Rural Sanitation Program which was initiated in 1986 to construct toilets for the rural people.  Then came the ‘demand driven’ approach of Total Sanitation Campaign in 1999.

 GoI also launched an award based Incentive Scheme for fully sanitized and open defecation free gram panchayats, blocks, districts and states called “Nirmal Gram Puraskar” (NGP) in October 2003 and gave away the first awards in 2005 as a component of its flagship scheme Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).

 Then in 2012, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan was launched with an enhanced incentive amount for constructing the toilet.

 The Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin was launched on October 2nd 2014 with the aim of making the whole country Open Defecation Free(ODF) by October 2nd 2019 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. Swachh Bharat Mission is different from the earlier programs. First, the eligibility criteria for selection of beneficiaries have been expanded to include all BPL as well as underprivileged APL citizens. Second, the amount of incentive for each beneficiary has been enhanced to Rs.12000/- per family. The most important difference is that behaviour change communication has been given more weightage than toilet construction.

Objective

The main objective of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin is to make the rural areas of the district Open Defecation Free(ODF) by 2nd October 2019. Pudukkottai district has 497 gram panchayats which fall under 13 blocks.

A Gram panchayat is declared ODF when all the households and the institutions in the panchayat have access to a sanitary and functional toilet. Institutions include schools, anganwadis, cinema theatres, panchayat office, religious places etc. Once, this is achieved, the gram panchayat convenes a special grama sabha and declares the panchayat as ODF. ODF declared villages are verified by district/state level teams within 6 months of declaration. When all the gram panchayats in a district declare themselves ODF, the district is eligible to declare itself ODF. The construction of toilets and declaration of ODF is constantly monitored using an Integrated Management Information System(IMIS).

Strategy and Components

Components of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin

 The preliminary step in Swachh Bharat Mission is to create awareness among the villagers and to generate demand for toilets. If this step is not done, then there won’t be any ownership for the toilets and people might end up not using it for the intended purpose. The objective is behaviour change communication(BCC) through IEC campaigns and interpersonal communication.  To facilitate BCC the district administration appoints a resource person with good communication skills from each village as the Swachhagrahi(motivator) of the village. Swachhagrahis are trained on Community Approaches to Sanitation and are entrusted with the job of generating demand for toilets in the village. For this, every Swachhagrahi is incentivised.

 Apart from the Swachhagrahi, the VPRC/PLF office bearers and the SHG members are also entrusted with the work of behaviour change communication.

 Behaviour change cannot be achieved in a day. It involves constant reinforcement of messages by all stakeholders and triggering. Through triggering the villagers are sensitized how their excreta travels back to their food through flies and other means. This triggers them to construct and use toilet.  A surveillance committee is formed consisting of men, women and children. The committee members go to open defecation spots early in the morning and persuade villagers not to defecate in open.  Awareness is also generated at schools, anganwadi centers, primary health care centres and during festivals and fairs. 100% sanitation can be achieved only with the convergence of all stakeholders involved.  Once the demand is generated, the Government facilitates the construction of toilets by arranging contractors and building material. The expenses of construction are to be borne by the beneficiary. Once the toilet is constructed and used sustainably, the incentive amount of INR 12,000/- is given to the beneficiary. It is an incentive for the change in their behaviour from defecating in open to using of toilet.

Toilet technology

A safe toilet must fulfil the following considerations.

 No contamination of soil surface, ground water or surface water  Excreta inaccessible to flies and animals  No handling of fresh excreta  Freedom from odour and unsightly conditions

A complete toilet must have a sanitary sub-structure, a ventilated superstructure and a hand-washing unit. As far as the sub-structure is concerned, twin leach pit toilet are promoted wherever feasible. At places such as hard rock area or high water table area where twin leach pit is not possible, other technologies are employed.

In twin leach pit toilets, two pits are dug,A&B(dimensions- 1m deep and 1m wide) at a distance of 1m from each other. The toilet is connected to the pits through a junction chamber in which pipe leading to pit B is blocked. The pits are lined with honey comb brick masonry or cement rings with holes. When the toilet is flushed, the sewage flows to pit A. The holes in the pit allow water and gases to leach out. The faecal matter settles down. When the pit A gets filled, the junction box is opened and the pit A is closed and the pit B is opened. Before pit B gets filled, the faecal matter in pit A gets decomposed and converted into manure and can be removed manually. Hence, by using alternative pits, toilet can be used forever without any expenditure for maintenance.

Gallery

Figure 1 Honourable Collector Thiru Ganesh IAS distributes toilet seats for young children Figure 2 Honourable Collector Thiru Ganesh IAS chairs the convergence meeting and explains the roles of each department to generate awareness

Figure 3 Sanitation awareness at NREGS site Figure 4 Swacchagrahi Sivakami interatcs with women and tells them the ill-effects of open defecation

Figure 5 After a social mapping session, villagers take pledge not to defecate in open Figure 6 Sanitation poems and songs being taught to children

Figure 7 Sanitation pledge being undertaken in a school Figure 8 Sanitation awareness video being played in a school

Figure 9 Swachhagrahi Kalayarasi interacts with school children on safe sanitation Figure 10 Sanitation rally by school students

Figure 11 Sanitation awareness wall paintings Figure 12 Handwashing facility provision and inculcating habit in a school

Figure 13 Students involve in a cleanup process Figure 14 Renovation of Integrated Women Sanitary Complex

Figure 15 Construction of leach pit for a toilet Figure 16 District level officers inspect quality and usage of toilets

Figure 17 Grama Sabha to declare village as ODF Figure 18 Swachhagrahi Jayanthi verifies usage of toilet