India: government announces that four more states have no dry latrines

According to Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja, within the last one year, the states of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Nagaland and Assam have announced that they have no dry latrines, implying that manual scavenging has effectively been abolished.

The government claims there are only four states left with dry latrines: Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. This contradicts a May 2009 news report that the Supreme Court had sent notices to the governments of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan seeking an explanation for their failure to demolish dry latrines and prosecute the owners.

Under the revised guidelines of the government’s “Integrated Low Cost Sanitation” (ILCS) scheme, a total of 241,931 dry latrines are being converted into pour-flush latrines and 32,305 new pour-flush latrines are being constructed during 2008-2009 and 2009-10 (up to 31.08.2009).

The ILCS scheme was initiated in 1980-81 through the Ministry of Home Affairs and later through Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. The scheme was transferred in 1989-90 to the Ministry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation and from 2003-2004 onwards to the Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation/Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (UEPA/HUPA). The scheme has helped in constructing/converting over 2.8 million latrines to liberate over 60,000 scavengers so far. To improve the programme’s performance revised guidelines were introduced in January, 2008.

The main objective of the Scheme is to convert low cost sanitation units through sanitary two pit pour flush latrines with superstructures and appropriate variations to suit local conditions (area specific latrines), but 25% of the funds of the scheme are also made available for construction of new latrines where economically weaker section (EWS) households have no latrines.

Under the Scheme, the central subsidy is 75%, State Subsidy 15% and beneficiary share is 10%. The upper ceiling cost is Rs.10,000/- (US$ 214) for the complete unit. For the States falling in the category of difficult and hilly areas, 25% extra cost is provided.

The Scheme is scheduled to end in 2009-10.

Source: PIB, 10 Nov 2009

India: US$ 7.9 billion needed to provide toilets to everyone

A study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that US$ 7.9 billion is needed to provide toilets for all households that currently lack toilets in India. Of that amount, US$ 4.7 billion is needed for rural areas, and US$ 3.2 billion for urban areas [1].

This figure exceeds the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (2005) estimate for ensuring universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

To connect all urban households lacking underground drainage to sewer systems would cost about U$ 7.7 billion and for rural households, about US$ 25 billion.

Since these financing requirements are so huge, the ADB paper suggests progressive improvement in the types of sanitation solutions. Sewerage systems tend to benefit richer households; hence, some form of capital cost recovery could be considered to finance sewerage-related infrastructure.

The ADB paper also calls for greater attention for the on the disadvantaged – households from the poorest quintile and scheduled tribes – and the states that have consistently underperformed (Orissa, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh) could help accelerate further progress.

[1] Bonu, S. and Kim, H. (2009). Sanitation in India : progress, differentials, correlates, and challenges. (South Asia occassional paper series : no. 2). Manila, Philippines, Asia Development Bank. ix, 35 p. : 16 fig., 5 tab. ISBN 978-971-561-828-1

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Asia – National Policy and Financing for Sanitation

Below is a link to a recent presentation at the National Sanitation Conference, 8 December 2009, in Jakarta Indonesia.

• Almud Weitz, on behalf of the Indonesia Sanitation Donor Group. National Policy and Financing for Sanitation: Examples from Asian Countries (pdf, 688KB). 2009.

Outline

A. Success factors for sanitation development in Asia

B. National approaches to sanitation development

• Thailand
• Vietnam

C. Financing Sanitation

• Urban Sanitation in Vietnam
• Rural Sanitation in India

D. Key lessons for sanitation progress

India, Kerala: sanitation programme sponsors social reality TV show

The Suchitwa (Sanitation) Mission is one of the initiators of the first social reality show in India. Called the Green Kerala Express, this daily 30 minute interactive show, starting in February 2010, will focus on sustainable development models developed by the local self-governments. The local government authorities (panchayats) will be evaluated based on their performance in sectors like water and land management, sanitation, environment, health, energy, social security, women’s empowerment, education, agriculture, food security etc.

Green Kerala Express is an initiative of the Kerala branch of Doordarshan Kendra, India’s public television broadcaster, the Kerala Ministry of Local Self Government, the Suchitwa (Sanitation) Mission and the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT).

The invitation to join the competition is open to all panchayats and they can apply with a detailed profoma and also a five minute video on their achievements. A technical jury will evaluate their work by assigning marks based on profoma and video and will shortlist 150 panchayats for the first round. Representatives from the selected panchayats will be invited to present their models in front of the jury and audience. A two-member anchor team will be leading the show. There will be interactive sessions, presentation of counter videos from Panchayaths and questions from jury and audience. One Panchayat will be short listed from each district, along with Municipalities and Corporations. In the final round the show will go into details of activities in various developmental sectors and panchayats will be evaluated and graded according. One panchayat, one Municipality and one Corporation will be selected as final winners.

Each episode will have the following additional features.

1. Every week special awards will be given to a green hero/green idea/green technology/green institutions/given school.
2. Every episode will have a citizen’s report, which will depict unknown facets of Kerala.
3. Every episode will have messages on social awareness.

The basic format will be that of a travelogue and thus it differs from conventional reality shows. Two anchors-male and female-will travel through the breadth and length of the state depicting the green history of the state as its evolves. Episodes will be posted on a web portal.

SMS voting will be included to ensure the participation of viewers.

Source: The Hindu, 07 Dec 2009 ; Green Kerala Express

Watch a Green Kerala Express model video (local language version in Malayalam only)

India, Himachal Pradesh: school sanitation reward scheme launched

The Indian state of Himachal Pradesh has launched the ‘School Sanitation Reward’ Scheme, under which, Government Primary and Middle Schools would get Block and District level prizes.

First cash prize would be of Rs 50,000 [US$ 1,100] at District level along-with a commendation certificate and momento at both Primary and Middle level while two prizes would be given at block level. First cash prize would be Rs 20,000 rupees [US$ 430] and second prize would be of Rs 10,000 [US$ 215] at block level for both school levels. Speaking at launch, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that this Rs 62 lakh [US$ 134,000] scheme was initiated to create competitiveness and awareness about sanitation amongst school children.

Mr. Thakur said Himachal Pradesh was one of few states where over 90 per cent achievement had been made in individual household latrines. He said the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), launched from District Sirmaur in the year 1999-2000 was now being implemented in all the 12 districts of the State. Mr Thakur said total plan expenditure of TSC is Rs 149.62 crore [US$ 32.4 million] of which Central Government’s share is Rs. 99.48 crore [US$ 21.5 million] , the State share is Rs 37.70 crore [US$ 8.15 million] while the beneficiary share is Rs 12.43 crore [US$ 2.7 million].

Rs 35.23 crore [US$ 7.6 million] had been spent till 30th November 2009 under TSC, he added.

He said the Central Government had fixed the target of achieving Total Sanitation by the year 2012 but the State Government had made it 2010 to declare Himachal Pradesh a Nirmal State. Two new schemes namely ‘Maharishi Balmiki Sampuran Swatchhta Yojna’ and ‘Mahila Mandal Protsahan Yojna’ launched in the year 2008, had geared up the sanitation programme in the hill state. The Rural Development Minister said the School Sanitation Reward Scheme would be implemented by the Rural Development Department and Education Department while the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP South Asia) would provide the support. He said State had made steady progress during last few years in sanitation as there was nil Niramal Gram Purskar in 2005 and 22 panchayats had got it in 2006-07 and this figure rose to 245 in the year 2007-08 while it reached to 267 in the year 2008-09. Principal Secretary, Education P.C. Dhiman said about 70 percent Government Schools have toilet facilities.

Read full details of the “Reward Scheme for the Cleanest Primary and Middle schools in Himachal Pradesh at Block and District Level under the Total Sanitation Campaign”.

Source: UNI / WebIndia123.com, 03 Dec 2009 / Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, 03 Dec 2009

Stinking data: 600mn Indians have no toilets!

No one would ever call Radha Jagarya fortunate. The 45-year-old widow and her four children live on the pavement in an upmarket south Mumbai suburb, scraping a living by selling flowers to passing motorists.

But in terms of public toilet provision, the family is well-served compared with other areas, with an adequate communal block a five-minute walk away near the US Consulate and another under a busy road in the opposite direction.

In slum areas, where more than half of Mumbai lives, an average 81 people share a single toilet. In some places it rises to an eye-watering 273. Even the lowest average is still 58, according to local municipal authority figures.

Unsurprisingly, it is still common to see people squatting by roads and railway tracks or along the coast, openly defecating in the city that drives India’s economy and where some of the world’s richest people live.

The UN estimates that 600mn people or 55% of Indians still defecate outside, more than 60 years after the scrupulously clean independence leader Mahatma Gandhi first talked of the responsible disposal of human waste.

Jack Sim takes a very keen interest in such matters. As the founder and president of the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), he has made it his mission to improve sanitation across the globe.

For him, India has “a lot of work to do” to improve sanitation, not just because of its impact on health and the spread of diseases such as diarrhoea, which Unicef says kills 1,000 Indian children aged under five every day.

It also tarnishes the image of a country that likes to portray itself as an emerging world economic superpower, the Singapore businessman said on a visit to Mumbai, where he was promoting World Toilet Day on November 19.

In particular, Sim questioned whether the authorities in New Delhi were doing enough to provide adequate public toilet facilities for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which will draw tens of thousands of foreign visitors.

“If you don’t have good toilets to welcome tourists, they don’t come and won’t go to all your beautiful sites,” he said.

Public toilet provision in Mumbai – and other cities – faces the same problem affecting housing, water and other basic services: supply cannot keep up with demand as India’s population explodes.

In March 2009, Mumbai’s municipal authorities said there were 77,526 toilets in slum areas and 64,157 more were needed. Work is in progress on only 6,050.

Yet the UN’s Mumbai Human Development Report 2009, published earlier this month, points out that even where public toilets exist, most have no running water, drainage or electricity, making them unhygienic and unusable.

Embarrassment means women and girls often wait all day until it is dark to go to the toilet, increasing their chances of infections and exposing them to violence or even snake bites as they seek out remote places.

Poor sanitation and the illnesses it causes cost the Indian economy Rs12bn ($255mn) a year, according to the health ministry.

Sim, who sees links between public lavatories and social development, wants the issue pushed up the political agenda, urging people to “talk more about toilets.”

“People go to the toilet more often than they have sex,” he said. “Everybody has to go.

“It needs to be a very nice experience. It needs to be safe, it needs to be hygienic, it must not cause problems to your health and we need to feel emotionally engaged with the toilet.”

Private sector involvement could help cut the number of people in India and other developing countries who have no sanitation – estimated at 2.6bn – while more schemes are needed to make open defecation socially unacceptable, he said.

In the northern state of Haryana, a successful “No Toilet, No Wife” campaign has been running, urging women to turn down suitors if they cannot provide them a house with a lavatory.

“Every problem is a business,” said Sim, adding there would be a benefit for the entire city and the country’s economy if every slum-dweller had access to proper sanitation.

“People who are healthy are able to produce more, they get out of poverty, they get into the middle class, they move up and consume more,” he said.

“Business is, I think, the fastest and the cheapest way… The private sector will come up with innovations. Let them compete to serve the poor.”

Source: AFP/Mumbai / Gulf Times, 27 Nov 2009

The ‘big squat’ to take a stand on sanitation – Jack Sim in Chennai

Jack Sim, founder, World Toilet Organization (the other WTO, as he puts it) was in Chennai [India] for an awareness drive ahead of World Toilet Day on November 19. “WTO is an advocacy group. We don’t actually build toilets; we partner with organisations across the world and share knowledge and experience,” says Sim.

He says many people have TVs and mobile phones but no toilets. “It’s about prioritising sanitation; 40% of the world has no access to proper toilets. Sanitation is about making people aware of the relationship between hygiene and health,” he says.

WTO which has over 200 partners worldwide, 42 of which are in India is one of the few organisations that focusses only on sanitation and toilets instead of water. “Everyone clubs water and sanitation, and 95% of the funds go towards water projects. But good sanitation is the first step towards clean water,” he says.

Sim started “the other WTO” in 2001 to disseminate serious facts with a sense of humour. The logo is a toilet seat shaped like a heart. “I thought the best way to break the toilet taboo was to use lots of puns.” But the name, which everyone thinks is “really bad at first” sticks in people’s minds. “That’s because every mother has told her child not to talk about the toilet. It’s not polite’. And here we are talking about the loo quite freely,” says Sim, who is often called Toilet Man.

And it’s not just about getting toilets installed. “You have to keep them clean too. So Sim has started the World Toilet College in Singapore that provides training in toilet maintenance and design. “I’m hoping we can open one in India too to train toilet cleaners like technicians.”

He believes people need to be given incentives to keep toilets clean. “For instance, for a city or a mall, tell them how many tourists or customers they’re losing because they have bad toilets. In a rural area or slum, get the community involved by making them paint the toilet, bright and colourful, so that they feel proud of it and keep it clean,” he says. “You need to create an emotional connect with the toilet. If you keep scolding people, it’s not going to work.”

This year, for World Toilet Day, WTO is planning a Big Squat. “We’re getting people all over the world to squat together in public places and take a picture. It’s a fun way to get the message across and make people laugh,” he says. World Toilet Day, according to him, provides the legitimacy for people to talk about toilets openly. “Toilets are like sex, everyone wants to discuss it, but is waiting for someone else to break the taboo.”

Source: Shalini Umachandran, Times of India, 11 Nov 2009

Report of Consultation on Sustainable Sanitation, Arghyam Trust, Bangalore, 09 Sept 2009

A consultation was organised by Arghyam Trust on 9^th September 2009 at Bangalore, to share civil society experiences regarding sustainable sanitation with the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission was represented at the event by Dr. Mihir Shah. The focus of the consultation was largely on rural sanitation.

Based on the discussions and inputs from the presentations of the participants, a general consensus was built, based on which specific recommendations were made to the Planning Commission.

Brief report of proceedings

The meeting was inaugurated by Dr. Mihir Shah, Planning Commission and Ms. Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson, Arghyam. This was followed by an introductory presentation by Arghyam team members on Sustainable and Ecological Sanitation, as also about the purpose and agenda of the consultation.

The  first session was focussed on Sustainable Sanitation, and included presentations by Water Aid, Gramalaya, UNICEF, Utthan, WSP, TSC District Coodinator and Gram Panchayat members. The second session was focussed on Ecological Sanitation and included presentations by UAS Bangalore, SCOPE, MYRADA and REAL.

The concluding session centred on summarising the key points of the days’ discussion and finalising of recommendations to the Planning Commission, by the participants.

Some of the questions/issues that were discussed in the meeting

Sustainable Sanitation

• Are there gaps in the sustainability of conventional toilet designs? Are toilet designs in TSC working on the ground the way they have been planned and envisaged? What are the barriers to successful implementation?
• What are the participant organisations’ experiences and observations regarding sustained toilet usage by the community? What are  the observations regarding slippage back to open defecation, including NGP villages?
• TSC currently has a fair amount of emphasis on soft components of awareness building and IEC. Is this sufficient? What more needs to be done to increase adoption and usage
• What do people do when the pit in single pit toilets fills up? What practices are being used to clean a clogged pit or to empty a full pit?
• Is menstrual hygiene being addressed adequately?
• Do the proposed new TSC guidelines address previous concerns regarding sustainability?

Ecosan Approach to Sustainable Sanitation

• How appropriate is Ecological sanitation in India socially? How can acceptance among the public be increased?
• What are the research areas that need urgent attention in order for Ecosan to be rolled out on a large scale?
• Is Ecological sanitation ready for incorporation into government programmes particularly TSC? What can the shape of this be? What are the geographic areas to focus on?
• What is the fertilizer value of human waste and what kind of policies are needed in order to tap into this potential. Is there broad agreement on practices for safe handling and reuse of excreta?
• What is the cost of Ecosan toilets? Could you share your experience with alternative toilet designs that could reduce the cost, or use locally available materials, without compromising on usability and maintainability?

Source: India Water Portal Blog, 21 Oct 2009

India: use pour flush system in toilets to save water, UNICEF

UNICEF has called for promoting Pour Flush System in toilets stating it is far better than the traditional Tank Flush System as it saves water.

Water Environment Sanitation (WES) specialist from UNICEF, Amit Mehrotra, said this in a press conference on Total Sanitation Campaign in Lucknow, India.

He said a large quantity of water gest wasted in the old Flush Tank System in urban areas. To preserve water, Pour Flush System should be promoted in the country.

”More than 65 per cent people go outside for defecation in our country and without changing this picture, we cannot even think about the healthy India,” Mr Mehrotra said.

He added that UNICEF has set a target with government’s collaboration to construct two crore [20 million] toilets in rural areas. One crore [10 millon] toilets have been constructed so far.

”We do not have enough trained workers to construct such toilets. As per the requirement, at least one trained worker is needed in one village to reach the target but we have only 16 per cent trained workers till date,” said Mr Mehrotra.

He said UNICEF has worked on sanitation in 10 districts of Varansai region.

Source: UNI / Netdial123.com, 23 Oct 2009

South Africa or India: who holds the world record for handwashing?

South African children have set an official new Guiness World Record for the most number of people washing hands at one location, but a simultaneous event in India attracted more than eight times as many students.

About 15,000 students from 23 schools in Chennai converged under the blazing sun in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to celebrate Global Handwashing Day and break the previous record held since 22 October 2008 by Bhiddwa School Niketon of Dhaka, Bangladesh with 1,213 participants.

Photo: Indian Express

The programme in Chennai began almost an hour late. Luckily, the dignitaries kept their speeches short. Large screens placed in the stadium aired demonstrations on how to wash hands.

Soon after the speeches, the whistle blew and the children got into the act. They had bubble bottles, soaps and paper napkins all in place. And in less than 10 minutes, the event was over.

Though the children liked the idea of coming together and assembling in the stadium, the scorching heat posed a problem. “Our teachers insisted that we came, otherwise we would not have bothered about this,” said a group of children from a Corporation high school.

On the other hand, some students were really excited to be part of the event. “We knew that we are going to be part of a record-setting event. Despite being a bit tired, we find it great to be here,” said Saravan and friends from a school near Choolai.

The students were brought together by the government, World Health Organization and Lifebuoy to promote the habit of washing hands as a measure to prevent disease.

Bryan Habana washing hands with the children. Photo: Bongani Nkosi

At the same time in South Africa, local rugby hero Bryan Habana and 1,802 Gauteng schoolchildren were staging their own record breaking attempt.

Habana is part of the Gimme 5 for Germ-free Hands campaign led by Protex, an anti-bacterial soap brand, owned by Colgate Palmolive. The campaign has visited more than 1,200 primary schools throughout the country. On Global Handwashing Day about 1-million children from schools around South Africa washed their hands under the auspices of the brand.

The South African was officially recognised as a Guinness World Record by adjudicator Carl Saville, who flew out from the UK for the occasion.

Source: Indian Express, 16 Oct 2009