It was 11.00 am. The lady of the household was husking the rice grain while her daughter Swagastika was sweeping the courtyard. A young Kondho girl of about 20 years with a round and smiling face was looking at us inquisitively. She was a second-year graduate student from a financially well-off family from Allami village. Her younger brother, Sulabh, was in 12th standard.

Her family owns 500 acres of land and is known as ‘bhadra ghar’ in Allami gram panchayat. Her father works as a clerk in a non-government organization. The single-story pucca house was big and had a courtyard encircled by verandahs and many rooms. There was a handpump at one corner of the courtyard and a piped water connection but no toilet in that big house. When we asked, “Where does one go to the toilet?” “We go to the riverside”, she replied.

“Is it convenient to go so far, sometimes, in an emergency, like raining heavily or at night?”

“Yes, no problem! We all know how to manage. The river is nearby and we don't need to carry a bucket - full of water for cleaning. A small bottle or small pot is enough.”

“If you go at night, this area might be infested with poisonous insects/ snakes?” Another question popped up.

“So far we do not have any case of snake bite. And we carry a torch with us”, promptly came the reply.

Surprisingly, this is not an exceptional case of Allami, a tiny tribal hamlet located in a remote corner of Kandhmal ( also known as Kashmir of Odisha), a large number of villages in Odisha portray more or less similar scenarios so far as sanitation is concerned. India has been witnessing a series of social, cultural, and economic changes since the early nineties, but creating clean and open defecation-free villages, which is crucial for primary health care not only in Odisha but in most of the states, still appears a distant dream, even after so many years of Independence. Why?

First, villagers are not keen to build toilets in their residential premises. Reasons: financial constraints, unavailability of space, long wait for subsidy, old habits, ignorance and lack of awareness about hygienic practices, and benefits of toilets at home. Second, they do not use toilets at home: A; they are habitual. They are comfortable with open defecation. B; even those, who have toilets at home, use them sporadically, in emergencies like sickness or heavy downpours. And C; constructed toilets under the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) are not usable due to operational problems, for instance – choked sewage pipes, scarcity of regular water supply, small size of toilet tanks, not appropriate for a household, absence of roof and door, etc. As you travel village after village, we didn't find any community or public toilet in these villages.

These startling facts were revealed by a study conducted in the Kandhmal and Sundargarh districts of Odisha.

Sundergarh, a beautiful fort, consists of two princely states- Gangapur and Bonai. Today it is recognised as an industrial district of Odisha and occupies a prominent position owing to its natural wealth like- iron ore, limestone, and manganese. Some important industries are steel, fertilizer, cement, ferrovanadium, different machines, glass and china clay factories, and spinning mills. Sundergarh occupies a prominent position in the mineral map of Odisha and is rich in iron ore, limestone, and manganese. Sundergarh, known for mining activity, is comparatively large in area (9712 sq. km) compared to Kandhmal with 8021 sq. km. About 43 percent of its total area is under forest cover. There are 17 blocks, 18 Tehsils, 279 gram panchayats and 1762 villages. With 2,093,437 population, Kandhmal, a backward district is located in hilly terrain. The sex ratio, 1008, is high in Kandhmal, while in Sundergarh, it is 973. The literacy rate, 73.34 is quite high in Sundergarh, while in Kandhmal, it is 53.36. Gender-wise male and female literacy are 81.01 and 65.48 percent respectively in Sundergarh, in Kandhmal, the male literacy rate is 60.91 while female literacy is 39.09 percent. Sundergarh is the 2nd district in terms of size and 6th in terms of population. Sundargarh is the 3rd urbanised district in the state having only 35.26 percent of its population living in urban areas as against 16.69 percent of the state’s population living in urban areas. In terms of population per sq. Km. Sundargarh is the 19th most densely populated district in the state.

Sundargarh and Kandhmal have the largest concentration of tribal population in the state which is around 51.00 and 47.52 percent respectively. Major tribes are Kondho, Pano, Oraon, Kharia, and Munda. There is an acute water scarcity for both agriculture and drinking purposes in these districts. Two major rivers, Brahmani and Sankh cover this area.

The average family size is 4 and 5 in the rural areas of Kandhamal and Sundargarh. The majority of the houses, 67.4 and 72.93 percent are kuchcha, with thatched roofs in Kandhmal and Sundargarh. However, in both districts, 98.3 percent of villagers have their kuchcha and semi-kuchcha houses, and only 1.6 percent live in rented residences. The majority has land holding up to two acres, but only a small number, 1.6 percent of villagers have more than five acres of land holding. In this part of the State, people fall under the BPL category. The main sources of livelihood, in this part of Odisha, are agricultural produce, agricultural labour, collection of minor forest produce, wage labour, etc. In Kandhmal, only 8.98 percent is engaged in agriculture, and mostly, rural folks work as daily wage labour. But in Sundargarh, agriculture is the main source of livelihood, and people, by and large, either engage in agricultural pursuits or work as agricultural labour. Since the region has insufficient farming land, cultivation mainly depends on rains. Paddy fields are prepared only in the rainy season.

There is at least one primary school, a fair-price shop (ration shop) is almost 2 to 5 km away from each village, offices within a radius of 5 km, police station is at a distance of five to fifteen km., veterinary hospital at a distance of about 10 kms, banks at a distance of almost 7 to 15kms, and forest offices are located mostly nearer to block headquarters. People have access to mobile phones in all the villages. Except for Luchabahal, all villages have been electrified. Except for one or two villages in Sundargarh district, all the villages are not fully connected with concrete roads. Weekly markets are held quite far from the villages. There was hardly a community center existed in the village territory.

In the last quarter of the Twenties, the Odisha government issued the directive that to improve the quality of sanitation services in the rural areas, the gram panchayats would take over the rural drinking water supply assets and manage the drinking water supply programme in their respective panchayats. The Rural Development Department and Panchayati Raj Department jointly worked out the modalities for carrying out operation and maintenance functions of rural drinking water supply systems through the gram panchayats. However, the reality on the ground is something else. Gram panchayats in Odisha are statutorily empowered to discharge 27 obligatory duties and 25 discretionary functions under sections 44 and 45 of the Odisha Gram Panchayat Act 1964. However, in practice, they are performing only a few functions. After more than six years, panchayats have been almost invisible in the construction of toilets. The agenda of the Gram Sabha meetings is mainly Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), etc. Water and sanitation issues do not occur in Gram Sabha meetings. Panchayats do not obtain certificates after successfully and satisfactorily completing the toilet and water supply. Except for one or two cases, there is no water and sanitation committee at the gram panchayat level. Besides, there is no coordination between the state government departments and panchayats.

Total Sanitation Campaign ( TSC) in Odisha was launched in 1999, mainly in three districts; Balasore, Ganjam, and Sundergarh. After ten years, when the Economic Survey 2008-09, was conducted, it was found that only 29.49 percent of individual household toilets, 2.2 percent of sanitary complexes, 69.68 percent of school toilets, and 58.77 percent of Anganwadi toilets were constructed by the year 2009.

When Sundergarh Zilla Panchayat President was grilled for the deplorable sanitation condition, the reply revealed complete ignorance:

“The Total Sanitation Campaign has not been implemented in any village and block of Sundergarh. No circular has been issued in this matter so far and panchayat members have not been given training to take over this responsibility. There are 17 blocks and 262 gram panchayats in the district. Sundargarh district panchayat with its 35 members has virtually not done anything. Zilla panchayat has never been involved in this campaign at any level. All the standing committees and rural drinking water and sanitation -*committees are in place only on paper. They failed to show any tangible results.” How sanitation campaign is being implemented in the villages . Prompt came the reply- “through Anganwadi workers and NGOs”.

Sundergarh Sub-divisional officials and the Block Development office also substantiated the information. “The fact is that panchayat members do not take an interest in these activities. There is general indifference on their part, hence we are left with no option. Anganwadi workers are given incentives.”

However, Anganwadi workers refused to receive any money from the department. “I brought around five women to construct and use the toilets, but to date, I did not get any amount .”The department gives contracts to a local Non-government organisation ( NGO) for speedy implementation of the scheme. Rourkela Steel Plant management, of course, has taken some initiative to develop some model villages( preferably villages situated at the periphery of the Steel Plant) and given funds for this purpose to the State Water Works Department.

Kandhmal Zilla panchayat president criticised the whole process of sanitation and the way it is being implemented.

“ How can people use bad toilets? The toilets are not built properly, so how can they use them”. Constructed toilets are not usable because they have been made with a half-hearted and half-baked approach. No roof! No door! Waist-size walls! There is no water supply and the area around the pot is of small size! Give them proper toilets, people will use them. How can you blame poor villagers for practicing open defecation? If you cut a saree into two and give two women to use. What will they do? In no way can they drape it hence they will use that piece of cloth for any other purpose. Similarly, people have been using the given toilet for the purposes like storing fuel, but not as a toilet. Proper toilets, keeping in mind the dignity of a human being, are not given to them. How can you expect a woman or a man to use such a toilet?”

That is why in Kelapada village of Phiringia block in Kandhmal, 400 toilets were constructed, and only 20 households are using them regularly. Only 19 households in 8 villages of Kandhmal bore the total cost of the toilets while 93 toilets were constructed with the help of a local NGO and the gram panchayat was instrumental in building 4 toilets. The reality is even worse, of this negligible number of toilets around 69.00 percent is used in emergencies, and only 10.3 percent is used regularly. Similarly in Gedupada village, which has the highest number of toilets, villagers do not use them.

Sarpanch of Kelapada gram panchayat deplores, “ I contested for my people’s benefit but I am unable to convince them to use toilets. They do not listen to me on this issue. Old habits do not die easily.”

She took a pause then blasted.

“How can I force them to use when I was not convinced? Is the construction of a toilet enough? Handpumps are broken. The pipes are broken. For the last 15 days, we have not had a water supply. For a toilet one needs a regular water supply as well. Though the majority of the toilets have been constructed under TSC, the construction quality is not of standard with locally made plastic pans, about four feet high three side walls, and that too without proper roof and doors, First, how can a person use them for such a private activity? It is more or less the same as open defecation. Secondly, people are used to living in bad sanitation conditions. They do not oppose or react on such issues”

As per the government scheme, the initial amount to build a toilet is borne by the user. The rest of the amount is the responsibility of the state. After the toilet is built, the amount is reimbursed. In some cases, the toilets are constructed by the people themselves and later the total amount is refunded by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) department. The total cost of construction is Rs. 2500/-, where Rs. 2200/- is being provided by RWSS and the rest is borne by the user. Theoretically, this plan looks perfect but its implementation becomes complex at ground level. First, the people in the villages are so poor that they don't have enough money to invest. Second, the subsidy is not enough to construct a properly usable toilet. Third, there is mindless spending of crores of rupees on unusable toilets bereft of a well-planned strategy and then blaming the rural. In some villages, it was reported that to achieve the target of TSC by constructing the highest number of toilets at home and to fulfill the criteria for the Nirmal Gram Purashkar, the respective panchayats threatened the villagers that if they did not agree to construct toilets at their homes, their BPL cards would be taken away.

Considering all these issues, in 2007, Orissa State Water & Sanitation Mission of Rural Development Department launched an intensive Mass Convergent Campaign for the successful implementation of total sanitation in the State, which again failed to accrue the desired benefits.

Now, the pertinent question is how a few States like Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, or Mizoram with hilly and difficult terrain can be open defecation-free States, why not Odisha? If sanitation schemes have been successful in other States, why are the villagers so indifferent to the sanitation program in Odisha despite all efforts?

Open defecation-free village or a state requires the involvement of various agencies- civil society, government agencies, the corporate sector, and local governments. For instance, an NGO played a catalytic role in changing the attitudes of the Chutiatola village in Sundergarh, where 100 percent of households have full-fledged and super-structured toilets with piped water connections and villagers actively participate in drinking water supply and sanitation programmes. SDO, Sundergarh district, and the BDO, Phiringia block emphasised that the communities must develop the habit of using the toilets. How? “Through awareness camps and programmes. That is the only way, provided toilets must be user-friendly,” he replied.

Open defecation is a complex social issue, that needs to be dealt at many fronts. Similarly building toilets is more a social issue than a simple engineering or masonry work. The community takes its own course in understanding any social programme. Too much hula-bulla by accusing rural folk of their habits is not helpful. Rather than spending crores of rupees mindlessly, it would be more appropriate to build wardwise sanitary complexes in the villages and make the village community accountable for their upkeep, cleanliness, and maintenance. With the slow and delayed implementation of concrete steps to remove these stumbling blocks, it is not difficult to conclude that total sanitation targets are not likely to be achieved in the stipulated time, and the dream of a clean village! of course, this dream may come true, but when, who knows!

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