Skip to main content

Parliamentary panel doubts Centre "declaring" 9 top states, including Gujarat, 100% villages open defecation free

By Our Representative
Taking strong exception to the Government of India declaring villages of 10 major Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand – as having achieved 100% sanitation coverage, a Parliament committee report, released in the Lok Sabha on July 19, has observed the dream of the Father of the Nation “for total sanitation for all and a clean India is still elusive.”
Also disagreeing that with the claim the rural areas of nine big states have even become “open defecation free” (ODF), the Parliamentary committee on rural development (2017-18), in its 59-page report, observes, “Contrary to the figures being projected by the Ministry, the Committee, while examining the subject, was of the view that the sanitation coverage figures seemed to be more on paper, but the actual progress at the ground level is very lethargic”.
Prepared under Dr P Venugopal (Lok Sabha, AIADMK), chairperson, Standing Committee on Rural Development, the report says, “Even a village with 100% household toilets cannot be declared ODF till all the inhabitants start using them. The main thrust of the Government should be on the usage of toilets as mere building of toilets alone is not sufficient for the realization of actual vision of an ODF country.”
It adds, “The visible reality through the experiences reveal that much more is needed to be done so as to obtain the ‘behavioural change’ in rural populace to attain the real motive behind the programme.”
Finding the performance of some states – especially Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Odisha – is very low, ranging from 55% to 85%, the report observes, even the “secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, admitted about the dismal performance of bigger States”.
Pointing towards “poor nature of construction and low quality of raw materials being used in the construction of toilets under SBM(G), as found by committee members and through different feed-backs.”, the report insists, “No amount of infrastructural development under Swacch Bharat Mission (Gramin) or SBM(G) will sustain ODF, until and unless the issue of durability and quality of construction of toilets is taken due care of.”
Villages declared open declaration free
Noting lack of “sound credibility on the ODF data”, the report states, there is a need to do “survey and regular re-survey” in order to “identify and rectify the defunct toilets over a period of time.” It adds, “The inclusion of the number of toilet in the data does not reveal a real picture of ODF until and unless the ‘coverage’ data and ‘usable’ data in regard to the functional toilets are same.”
Especially referring to the Government of India data, which claim that “77 % households in rural India have access to toilets and about 93% of them use toilets regularly”, the report states, “It has been observed in the past that fall back rate of ODF declared villages were very high.”
This, it states, this was so “either due to filing of wrong information regarding attaining of ODF, or due to non-sustainability of toilets, such villages reverted back to open defecation, thus rendering the entire exercise futile, while on data, they remain ODF.”
According to the committee, “At a time when the major parts of the country are under severe water shortage, the idea of attaining ODF status for 100% sanitation coverage across the nation seems farcical. Availability of water resource is of utmost importance and mere construction of toilets without water is of no use and wastage of resources.”
The situation is bad, says the report, even as, during the year 2018-19 (as on May 24, 2018), “there was huge unspent balance to the tune of Rs 9,890.84 crore under SBM(G)”, adding, “The problem of unspent balance is more prominent in certain states.”
Thus, in Uttar Pradesh Rs 2836.82 crore were lying unspent, in Bihar Rs 2764.62 crore, in Madhya Pradesh Rs. 866.68 crore, in Assam Rs. 606.30 crore, in Odisha Rs. 436.71 crore, in Andhra Pradesh Rs. 420.16 crore are lying unspent.
The report states, “Broad reasons responsible for unspent balances has been inadequate capacity building at grass root level and existence of revolving funds and leveraging other sources of credit etc.”
---
Download full report HERE

Comments

Uma said…
ODF is a distant dream. Our CM also made an announcement and the next day, the papers had pics of men defecating in the open

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.