No More “Pity” in “Pit Emptying”!

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“Frankly speaking, earlier I had reservations about pit emptying and always considered human shit as a potential environmental liability and after doing pit emptying myself; now my own reservations and inhibitions are the things of the past and I am assured that this one is a very potent solution for the many of the sanitation woes”, said Temsutala Imsong after doing pit emptying, arranged as a part of "Shramdaan Conclave" in Raipur district. Temsutala Imsong, who hails from Nagaland, is known for her organization Sakaar Sewa Samiti work in the field on sanitation and community participation in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and has done extraordinary and incredible work in the cleaning of “ghats”; is a conveyor of #Shramdaan India, a group working for Clean India in different parts of the country. “Shram” meaning “Labour” and “Daan” meaning “Donate”, hence Shramdaani can be called as volunteers devoted to specific cause.

#ShramdaanIndia is a group of volunteers working for Clean India Mission, in different cities in India. Shrasmdaan Conclave was second such conclave organized to encourage community participation and cross learning between different groups. As a part of the conclave, pit emptying activity was planned to challenge the age old stigma and taboo associated with it which proved to be a huge success.  

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While smelling the manure, after doing pit emptying, Monika Tiwari a member of Samarprit Parivar, also a software engineer by profession, based in Vidisha, Madhya- Pradesh asked, “Is this really shit manure? It does not look like shit. It’s totally like soil or any other manure like Vermi-Compost”. Many participating volunteers (which were from different organizations like Bhopal I-Clean, Green Minds, Paryavaran Dost, Change India Foundation, Bunch of fools and many more) were involved in pit emptying to carry forward the pit emptying momentum, generated after pit emptying  done by Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and sanitation (MoDWS).

Many sanitation experts like Dean Spears, Diane Coffey and Sangita Vyas always suggested that pit emptying must become central to India’s efforts to eliminate open defecation. Study reveals that the rural population of India does not usually accept the low cost sanitation solution like leach pit as people think that bigger septic tanks are better as there will be no problem in emptying. People try to construct septic tanks as big as it is possible so that one will not have to empty the septic tank in lifetime which will atleast be more durable till the next generations to come. This leads to an increase in the construction cost of toilets. Though Government of India promotes low cost solutions like leach pit and provides an incentive of twelve thousand rupees (Two Hundred US dollar), people generally prefer septic tank which is actually, what Robert Chambers call it as a lose-lose-lose proposition, costly to build, nasty, expensive to empty, and used only partially.  Masons are generally unaware, uninformed and ignorant about the usefulness of leach pit and also sometimes to generate more work for themselves and in turn more profit, knowingly promote septic tanks.

“I actually thought that the silliest thing that I am doing is to do pit emptying because manual emptying process of manure is taken as abomination. In reality, “shit manure” is just like a soil. Now I believe that a leach pit toilet is very easy to construct and simple to maintain, it’s very cost effective and in fact women Self Help Group (SHGs) are showing the way to earn from shit too”, said by Haresh Shah from Making A difference Foundation placed in Mumbai. He is also doing a pioneering work in beautification of railway stations in sub urban areas of Mumbai. 

Somatya from Shashi Foundation, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), a group working for making places clean and green was very enthusiastic about pit emptying as such a work was never done before. After participating and knowing about shit manure, she was convinced that pit emptying is the best way of fecal sludge management and that shit manure is far better than other chemical fertilizers and opinioned that this activity should be replicated on other parts of country.

Many Sarpanch's (elected village representatives) along with other village people are promoting pit emptying activity and are spreading awareness about it. Sarpanch's of Gram Panchayat Raikheda, Chhatoud, Chicholi, Gaitara, Sarfonga, Mohada and many more are actively involved in pit emptying and are challenging the age old beliefs of purity and caste biases!

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Without a doubt, the pit emptying activity will challenge the age old caste based biases and manual scavenging. Manual scavenging in India is officially defined as ‘lifting and removal of human excreta manually’, at private homes and toilets maintained by municipal authorities. The practice consists of gathering human excreta from individual or community dry latrines with bare hands, brooms or metal scrapers into woven baskets or buckets. Manual scavenging is considered as one of the lowest, polluted and most degrading occupations.  Though, according to the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, which made the employment of manual scavengers illegal, emptying human waste that has decomposed in a latrine pit is not considered as manual scavenging, and is therefore not illegal.

In Raipur district of Chhattisgarh, the methodology of Community-Led Total Sanitation is to make Gram Panchayat Open Defecation Free and now at different occasions, pit emptying activities are done to make people aware about the simplicity associated with pit emptying. Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) are selling ‘shit manure’ named as Sona Khad under Bihaan Bazzar. People belonging to different caste, creed and religion are ready to do pit emptying and are proudly posting it in on different social media platforms.

Pit emptying is a basic riddle is not very easy to solve. Combined with notions of purity, caste, myths of hygiene, incorrect perception, biases, prejudices, notions and wrong concepts, it will surely require sustained efforts by very stakeholders to make pit emptying as “new normal”. It is, therefore, rightly argued that pit emptying must be central to India’s effort to end open defecation.

Nileshkumar Kshirsagar (IAS) is the CEO Jila Panchayat Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

DATE: 3 MAY 2017

CONTRIBUTORS: 

 

Nileshkumar Kshirsagar

TOPICS: 

 

FSM

REGION: 

 

South Asia

COUNTRY: 

 

India

Making shit a commodity: finding a fortune at the bottom of a leach pit

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Leach pit emptying events should not remain stand-alone activity. Forward and backward linkages in making manure a commodity bought, sold and traded in market will be very much helpful in shifting preference to leach pits and issue of partial usage can be tackled and will be surely a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

Robert Chambers, Jamie Myers and I, with our field staff, recently dug a leach pit in the Gram Panchayat Sarfonga of Raipur District following the footsteps of Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDWS). One household, where the head of the family, Mr. Dhaja Ram Sahu was unaware of the treasure beneath his own land, constructed septic tank for his family costing around seventy thousand rupees; because he thought it’s easier to construct a new toilet than emptying leach pit!  When offered a price for his fertilizer he was surprised to know the value for the same. Although there is a proactive campaign going on by government, septic tank remains the choice of the common man. In reality a ‘fortune’ lies at the bottom of the leach pit and “commoditization” of human shit can be one of the ways to encourage people to construct leach pits.

Shiv-Sakti a women Self Help Group (SHG), located in Gram Panchayat Beldar Shivani, in Tilda block of Raipur District,Chhattisgarh is selling manure generated from human shit as Bihan Sona Khad, in Bihan Bazar of Raipur. (Bihaan is a Chhattisgarhi word which means dawn and is the of the Chhattisgarh State Rural Livelihood Mission. Sona Khad means manure generated from human shit). Bihaan Sona Khad is priced around fifty rupees, for a kilogram, slightly less than one US dollar, and in this way the SHGs are trying to turn “shit” into a commodity.

According to the Cambridge dictionary, the meaning of the term ‘commodity’ is ‘a substance or product that can be traded, bought, or sold.’ The best way to encourage people to construct leach pits and to use toilets is to make ‘shit’ a commodity that can be traded, sold and bought in the open market. With organic food and organic fertilizers gaining currency in recent days, shit manure can be successfully promoted.

Construction of a septic tank, though a preferred approach in India, is actually a lose-lose-lose proposition:  it’s costlier to build, it’s more time consuming and an expensive method to empty it. Partial usage of the septic tank toilet is also one of the tricky issues: to avoid filling of the septic tanks, which is seen as liability, family prefers to defecate in the open. Leach-pit technology as promoted by the Indian Government is a win-win-win situation for the all concerned stakeholders in the true sense. Using leach pit is an investment- the more shit deposited, the more generation of manure for sale. It’s actually like Systemic Investment Plan (SIP). Still, septic tanks is often desired by people due to various reasons, for example due to the ill-conceived notion of leach pits as Sarkari, ie sub-standard. A toilet is a life time investment and thus it is conceived that the bigger the tank the better it will be.  Another reason is that masons are not aware of leach pit techniques.

On 20th February, 2017 an orientation program on sanitation and CLTS was conducted by Jila Panchayat, Raipur, Chhattisgarh in collaboration with Action for Better Tomorrow (ABTS) and supported by UNICEF Chhattisgarh at Raipur and Bunch of Fools (BoF), a local NGO involved in urban sanitation. Manure recently excavated by field staff from a leach pit was shared with the participants. The participants had not been told about the type of manure. But when told about the type of manure, all the participants were surprised. Many were not hesitant to touch, smell and handle the leach pit manure. They even agreed on digging a filled leach pit in coming days and an intense activity at field level has been planned for the same.

It can be argued that turning shit-manure into commodity may be difficult. But it can be noted that a few years earlier, in Chhattisgarh, there was an immense environmental problem of fly ash generated due to power plants in Chhattisgarh, which is the power hub of India. Power plants were ready to provide fly ash for free but there were no buyers. Industries used to dump this waste at any obscure location. Later, the government of Chhattisgarh made fly ash bricks compulsory for all government buildings and also units for manufacturing of fly ash bricks were put under priority sector under Chhattisgarh Industrial Policy, so easy finance and capital subsidy was made available. The result of these policy interventions is that fly ash which was considered as waste turned to be a most sought commodity - a win-win situation for all. Similarly, the right kind of policy intervention, sustained efforts and dedicated IEC for pit emptying, perception management, forward and backward linkages, communication strategy for the behavior change, promotion of organic fertilizers can make human shit manure a commodity.

C K Prahalad, Management Guru, and author of the book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits elaborated on how MNCs can generate profits by  focusing on the needs of the Bottom of Pyramid (BoP) to create fortune for themselves and also the poor sections of society. In the same way, it can be said that, fortune lies at the bottom of a leach pit and we need to harness and exploit the great potential that is there for the betterment of humanity.

Nileshkumar Kshirsagar (IAS) is the CEO of Jila Panchayat Raipur and Sukanya Kalita Vaiphei Alumnus of Lady Shri Ram College and interested in behavior change and sanitation.

DATE: 14 MARCH 2017

CONTRIBUTORS: 

 

Nileshkumar Kshirsagar

TOPICS: 

 

FSM, 

Monitoring and sustainability

REGION: 

 

South Asia

COUNTRY: 

 

India

Implementation of ‘CLTS’ in Raipur District: ‘Bhaichara’ Model

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Sustainable Sanitation at scale and saturation can be achieved only by way of CLTS. Community Participation is the key and behavior change is most crucial aspect. ODF is first step; #ODF 2.0 is the next logical walk.

Gram Panchayat Chhattoud is headed by Female Sarpanch named Swati Verma. A post graduate in Management and MSc in Mathematics, she always dreamed about making her Gram Panchayat ODF, but lacked the financial and other resources required and always thought it would remain a pipe dream. But now with Community Led Total Sanitation methodology and active participation by women Self Help Group (SHG) of National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) her Gram Panchayat has achieved ODF status.  Faced with herculean task and constant opposition from wasted interests, local level caste and class politics,  but supported by other Sarpanch of neighboring Gram Panchayat under banner of “Bhaichara Model”, and by constant morning vigilance, Door to Door Campaign , Gram Panchayat Chhattoud claims to be “Cleanest Gram Panchayat of Central India”. Without going into authenticity of the claim, achievement is very much real and trustworthy. Under # ODF 2.0 in her Gram Panchayat, NADEF tanks and vermi-compost are being constructed as part of Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). Gram Panchayat Chhattoud is also trying to achieve status of ‘Cashless Gram Panchayat’, with total financial inclusion and by way of installing digital payment facilities.

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Currently there are many such Gram Panchayats in Raipur District having more or less same story of resistance, opposition and hurdles, presently all Gram Panchayats are on their own way to achieve the ODF status. But path was not very easy or simple.  It all started with problem faced by target led Construction model and now it can be said it was ‘blessing in disguise’!

“Making Gram Panchayat ODF is our priority and we know it is most important work but cannot be done by force; Mission must be based on ‘Bhaichara’ ( brotherhood)” said  Babloo Sharma, man with firm determination , Chief of organization of Sarpanch (Elected Village Chairperson of unit of grass root democracy in India called as Gram Panchayat). “Sarpanch sammelan” (Conference of Chairperson of Gram Panchayat) was organized by Panchayat and Rural development Department for knowing the difficulties faced at ground level in implementation of flagship programme of Government of India called as Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (Clean India Mission-Rural), which aims making India Clean before 2nd October 2019.

Gram Panchayat is village level unit of direct democracy, headed by directly elected Sarpanch. Executive Agency for many development work is Gram Panchayat and as head of Panchayat, its duty of Sarpanch to do the required job. Thus it was but natural and usual that under SBM-G, construction of toilets, was done by Gram Panchayat as a rule but by Sarpanch in reality. Many times villagers were not involved or there was general apathy and lack of concern. People complained about faulty construction sometimes with, and many times without any valid or legitimate reason just to settle political scores or to score brawny points.  In few cases administration, bound by targets and timelines, tried to speed up the activity, by putting little pressure on Sarpanch and Sachiv (Secretary of Gram Panchayat). Chhattisgarh Government for right reasons, to incentivize community action and focus on behavior change, delayed the incentive amount, as an established rule and to be given only after three months of vigilance after Gram Panchayat achieving ODF status.

In some cases, mainly in larger Gram Panchayat, Sarpanch faced with resource crunch complained about this tactics of ‘delayed payment’.  So there was some confusion and misunderstanding in implementation of SBM-G. Thus presence of Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) M.K. Raut ,of Panchayat and Rural Development Department , Sarpanch Sammelan (Conference of Elected Chairperson of Gram Panchayat) was organized , and it was decided that the model that will be followed will be of Bhaichara. Bhaichara is a Hindi word meaning Brotherhood but it has larger connotation and can be translated as “Community Led”. No force, intimidation and coercion of any kind will be used by administration or by any other stakeholder to attain ODF status. Whole process must be based on mutual respect, self help and community participation and CLTS will be the ONLY way and was termed as ‘Bhaichara’!
Thus it was well informed decision that model that will be followed will be of Community Led Total Sanitation. In any case no upfront subsidy will be given (not allowed by state government rules). Maximum focus will be given on ‘morning and evening vigilance’ with active participation of every stakeholder. No standard design of toilet will be encouraged for superstructure but sub structure must be of leach pit pattern. In a nutshell, it was decided that model of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) will be replicated in purest form.
The most essential part of CLTS process is trained field staff. Financially and technically supported by UNICEF Raipur, District Administration provided training to field level staff and volunteers working for this noble cause and called them as #ODF Sipahis (Sipahi a Hindi word for soldier, as soldier is committed for his mission). Trained #ODF Sipahis and with hand holding by the CLTS specialists different CLTS activities were done like triggering, follow up, demo and door to door visits to motivate people to use toilets. No sanctions under SBM were given in individual household, but only number was sanctioned, according to base line survey to initiate community action as individual sanctions create problem of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. To have judicious and careful use of resource, high handed approach was used in Tilda Block of Raipur District and it was chosen for intensive work for two reasons, one it is located away from urban conglomerate and second this block has active SHG groups under NRLM.

SHGs under NRLM fold were oriented about ill effects of Open Defecation; initially response was not as expected but later on movement geared up and many SHGs done inter-loaning of micro finance for construction of toilets. Gram Panchayat Raikheda achieved ODF status because of vigorous and spirited work of SHGs of NRLM.
Key center of attention was on morning and evening follow up, the timing of open defecation. All stakeholders like Sarpanch, Sachiv, Mitanin (Asha Worker), Members of SHGs of NRLM, Staff of ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme), villagers, local elected ward members. Under banner of ‘Bhaichara’, people led by Sarpanch of adjoining village also participated in such vigilance as per predetermined schedule in each Gram Panchayat. 

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People in Raipur District are comparatively better off than their counterparts in other districts of Chhattisgarh. Availability of material is not a problem. Bricks, cement and sand at any given point of time will be found to be stored in front of almost every household for any future requirement or for contingency purpose. Still, earlier people used to complain about lack of resource for construction of toilets and used to ask for upfront government subsidy as could not afford the construction of toilets. It’s not about lack of resources, it’s always about lack of priority! Toilet has never been a priority and this change was done by Natural Leaders at Gram Panchayat level.

In every Gram Panchayat in Tilda Block different Natural Leaders emerged (NL) and each has a different success story. Common people with very common aim and aspirations have shown remarkable courage, perseverance, firmness and resolve in making their Gram Panchayat ODF. The first Gram Panchayat to become ODF without any upfront subsidy in Tilda Block was Gram Panchayat Ilda. It all started with dynamic Sarpanch of Ilda Gram Panchayat, Mehataru sahu, miidle aged man, fifth standard drop out, but continued his schooling by open methods and recently passed Tenth Standard Exam, visited Doma Gram Panchayat of Dhmatari District,under departments scaling up programme. Visit to ODF Gram Panchayat changed his outlook, and he decided to make his Gram Panchayat ODF. In heavy rains, supported by CLTS specialists and ODF Sipahis, he managed to convince villagers of ill effects of open defecation. Three hundred plus villagers, of different caste, creed and religion did morning follow up without single break. In such a charged atmosphere his Gram Panchayat gained ODF status in short span of two months. This was first success and accomplishment of our Bhaichara Model.

After this many Gram Panchayats attained ODF status. Tilda Block having Ninety Nine Gram Panchayats is on the verge of accomplishing ODF ranking. A few Sarpanch have formed their own group named “Swachh sarfonga Sangwari”, where Sarfonga is name of Gram Panchayat, and word Sangwari can be translated as co-passenger. All groups, large or small, based on caste, creed or gender have sole aim of making Tilda Block an ODF Block.

ODF is not the final destination; it is the first step of the sanitation ladder. After attaining ODF category, communities are moving upwards on cleanliness hierarchy, and it has been termed as #ODF2.0. Wherein, now focus is given on Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) also on handwashing platforms, especially in schools, to promote handwashing before mid-day meal (MDM), NADEF tanks and vermi-compost pits. Due to current activism generated at grass root level, different government schemes are energetically implemented like promoting use of digital payment gateway as part of ambitious plan of cashless economy. Spill over effect of Bhaichara Model can be seen in Raipur District and also in other District of State of Chhattisgarh. ODF is not the end; but it’s a first stride of the long walk to Total Sanitation and Bhaichara is the only way forward!

Nileshkumar Kshirsagaris the CEO Jila Panchayat in Raipur, India.

DATE: 20 DECEMBER 2016

CONTRIBUTORS: 

 

Nileshkumar Kshirsagar

TOPICS: 

 

campaigns

REGION: 

 

South Asia

COUNTRY: 

 

India

Syllabus: CSE Mains General Studies Paper - I

CSE Mains General Studies Paper - I

(Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society)

·         Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

·         Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present significant events, personalities, issues.

·         The Freedom Struggle - its various stages and important contributors or contributions from different parts of the country.

·         Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.

·         History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc. - their forms and effect on the society.

·         Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.

·         Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

·         Effects of globalization on Indian society.

·         Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.

·         Salient features of world’s physical geography.

·         Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).

·         Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location - changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Syllabus:CSE Mains General Studies Paper - II

CSE Mains General Studies Paper - II

(Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations)

·         Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure. 

·         Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.

·         Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions. 

·         Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries.

·         Parliament and State Legislatures - structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these. 

·         Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity. 

·         Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.

·         Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies. 

·         Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies. 

·         Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. 

·         Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.

·         Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections. 

·         Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector or Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources. 

·         Issues relating to poverty and hunger. 

·         Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

·         Role of civil services in a democracy. 

·         India and its neighborhood- relations. 

·         Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests. 

·         Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

·         Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.