Sanitation by other means

Orissa, trying hard to meet targets, goes for broke.Reports Dhrutikam Mohanty.

As sanitation programmes go, this one would have to be unique in its conception. Those without latrines may not be able to contest panchayat elections in Orissa! The state Government is seriously contemplating amendments in the Panchayat election rules to make such a provision with the objective of promoting sanitation in rural areas.State Rural Development Minister, BB Harichandan, told TSI: “Like the two children norm, we will introduce the ‘no latrine, no ticket’ norm in panchayat elections.” In order to ensure the success of this rural sanitation programme, the Government of Orissa has now decided to take this exceptional measure to encourage people and public representatives to pursue hygiene at home – a measure not invoked since the days of Gandhi. The decision was the outcome of a ministerial-level meeting which reviewed the progress of Orissa’s total sanitation campaign (TSC) to be launched, kicking off celebrations for the International Year of Sanitation. The United Nation has declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation with an objective to put the global community on track to achieve sanitation as a Millennium Development Goal. Increased access to sanitation, especially for the poor, is fundamental for achieving all Millennium Development Goals, various resolutions at the international and local level have indicated.

The eight-year-old TSC, which is currently being implemented in all the 30 districts of the State, aims at providing sanitation to all households by 2009-10. While the Government has targeted over 70 lakh households under total sanitation, the achievement so far has been 18 lakh, which is only 25 per cent, but marks a good beginning. Statistics show why Orissa, like the rest of the country, needs sanitation. “Only 34,000 out of 70,663 schools have toilets and the facility is available in 11, 000 of the 25,160 Anganwadi centres. Yet, it has succeeded in achieving only 23.2 per cent of target till date,” Ranjan Panda, convener of Water Initiative of Orissa (WIO), told TSI. “This achievement also seems inflated considering that most of the targets fixed for home latrines have been done in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, which has a subsidy provision. Target achievement in the APL category is as low as eight per cent,” Panda alleged. According to government facts and figures, the Naveen Patnaik-led government is in a hurry to achieve complete sanitation in rural Orissa. The Rural Development department is going to launch an ambitious awareness campaign called ‘Sanjog’ from June 16 to November 19 in association with Women & Child Development, Family Welfare, Panchayati Raj and School & Mass Education departments and in collaboration with Unicef and Water Aid. Gram panchayats will work as major instruments to achieve the goal. The state government had also launched a novel cash incentive scheme, namely the Parimal Mitra Award in 2007, in an effort to inject much-needed dynamism into the sanitation campaign. Under this scheme, each sarpanch (village headman) has been asked to persuade villagers to construct 500 to 1000 household toilets in their respective village panchayats and be eligible for the award.Clearly, in its eighth year of implementation – with just two more years left and an achievement rate of only 25 per cent - the government has now introduced a slightly coercive and compelling model linking latrines with sanitation. It seems the chief minister is also egging the bureaucracy to achieve results. In pursuance of that, Pattnaik will also write a letter of request to chairpersons of all zilla parishads and panchayat samitis reiterating the state government’s commitment to sanitation. And the crying need for making latrines mandatory in every home. Point is will this mantra of Navin’s government work where cash awards and other incentives have failed?