The Peninsula Foundation

Tag: water

  • Optimisation of Water Resources

    Optimisation of Water Resources

    Community participation is the most important aspect of resource management and in this connection, the role of Panchayat, NGOs and Civil Society is very important. Therefor, a planned awareness strategy needs to be prepared and implemented.

    Introduction:

    Once again after the current sweltering warm weather, the monsoon is eagerly awaited; not only to get a respite from the heat but also to get water so essential for the crops. The good news is that as per the IMD prediction, this year the monsoon is going to be normal. However, the question is whether we are ready to make use of nature’s bounty for us? It may be noted that the total quality of water available in the world is 1600 million cubic km and 97.5% of it is saline. Of the balance, 2.5% of the fresh water, most of it lies deep and frozen in Antarctica and Greenland. Only 0.26% is available in rivers, lakes and in the soil and shallow aquifer.

    According to NITI Aayog surface water availability in India is 257 BCM of water per year which is likely to go up to 385 BCM in near future. India also has 432 BCM rechargeable ground water. India uses 634 BCM of water per year to grow food, generate energy and satisfy the needs of industry. Thus, theoretically, the availability should meet the requirements but the situation on the ground has many problems and availability gets impacted by other environmental and man-made factors. In this connection following two reports from World Bank and NASA are relevant.

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  • The Gated Republic: India’s Public Policy Failures and Private Solutions

    The Gated Republic: India’s Public Policy Failures and Private Solutions

    Book Review
     
    The Gated Republic: India’s Public Policy Failures and Private Solutions
    Author: Shankkar Aiyar
    Publisher:  Harper Collins India
    Date: 01 September 2020
     

    India has always been statist. All its political parties are Statist in one way or the other; from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, the State has been thought of as the most important player in economic and social affairs. However, even with all this undue importance, the Indian State has failed to deliver even basic goods to its citizens in more than seventy years since independence. Political journalist and author Shankkar Aiyar analyses these government failures and explores the private solutions offered for such problems in his new book The Gated Republic: India’s Public Policy Failures and Private Solutions.

    Without engaging in the debate on how small or big a government should be, the author asserts that providing basic amenities is a moral obligation of the State to its citizens. The basic amenities namely Water, Health, Education, Power and Security are the titles of the chapters where he analyses issues surrounding each one of them individually. The issues are well researched, and every argument is substantiated with facts, so much so that one might find the sheer number of facts overwhelming.

    Shankkar Aiyar, however, does not stop with just facts, he gives us anecdotal stories on how failed government policies affect real people. And disproportionately such affected people are poor. Aiyar argues that this is because ‘those who can find solutions- where they find them and when they can pay for them- have already migrated to private solutions. Two conclusions can be deduced from this analysis. One, the poor are left out without even basic amenities of life, thereby increasing inequality. And two, the people who can pay for private solutions are ‘paying for services they have already been taxed for’. Either way, the author argues that the government has let down its citizenry.

    The fact that there is a rationed hourly quota for water in Mawsynram, the region of the highest rainfall in India and that even after seventy-three years after independence, less than 50% of class V students can read class II level text is a testament to the magnitude of the failures of the government.

    The State is, however, not ignorant of these issues. ‘Every decade saw a new committee’ and Aiyar lists out all of them from various sectors, sometimes even from the British period. In public policy, it is said that what gets measured gets managed but even with so many committees, there have not been desirable improvements. The fact that there is a rationed hourly quota for water in Mawsynram, the region of the highest rainfall in India and that even after seventy-three years after independence, less than 50% of class V students can read class II level text is a testament to the magnitude of the failures of the government. It is not that the government is not doing anything, but this dire situation is the result of sloth-like bureaucracy and something Aiyar calls the ‘announcement approach’ of the politicians. Aiyar argues that successive governments have stopped themselves with lucrative announcements and rebranding of old schemes with new slogans instead of rectifying ill-thought-out policies. For example, he talks about the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Program (ARWSP) which was introduced in 1973. Through the years it has gone through different transitions from being included in the twenty point program during the emergency to Technology Mission on Drinking Water in 1986, Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission in 1992, becoming a separate Department of Drinking Water under Ministry of Rural Development in 1999, morphing into the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in 2010 and finally becoming Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry in 2011. Now the ministry is renamed as the Ministry of Jal Shakthi. Even after all these measures, clean piped water is still a distant dream to many Indians.

    In a democracy, incompetent policies and politicians should be punished in the polls but Aiyar argues that there is a ‘divorce of authority from accountability’. He does not dwell too deep into why such a gap between government failures and electoral politics exists because the question, although imminent to understand this state of affairs, is beyond the scope of the book. However, he points out at various places in the book where such a gap exists and how ‘normal’ it has come to be. For example, the use of tanker lorries by the governments to ferry and provide water to its citizens is a shift from the actual problem of the lack of capacity to provide piped water. And the fact that water tankers are a ‘normal’ in reality is a testament to how public policy failures are divorced from electoral politics.

    Although people have not kept the State accountable, they have come up with solutions to address government failures on their own. There is an opinion echoed by many others that in India that problems are solved not by the government but despite the government. Aiyar explores so many places where the above statement holds. We get to know about ‘Bisleri’, the first bottled water and how its name evolved, the story of Apollo group of hospitals, many budget private schools and teaching fellowships, the ubiquity of inverters, private security firms who grossly outnumber police force 83:17 and so on. Each private solution is the result of incompetent government services and inefficient public policies. Aiyar dives deep into how the solutions came to be and how it has helped normal people. Take, for example, the power sector. Even though India is the world’s third-largest electricity producer, not every household has electricity. And inverters, diesel and battery, have made a huge impact on households. So much so that, in 2011, the sixty-eighth National Sample Survey (NSS) report created a new entry for inverters in household consumption of goods and services. Aiyar discusses many other problems and their private solutions in the book.

    What is interesting is that people, even poor people, prefer private solutions though it is costlier. For example, the author points out that about ‘78% of rural and 81% of urban Indians’ preferred private hospitals. This shows a lack of faith in government services. These are the symptoms of decades of ill-thought-out public policies that do not address the root cause of the issue.

    What is even more interesting is that now, these private solutions are rebranded as government initiatives. The Adoption of water purifiers and dispensers in government offices and public places is an example of such rebranding. More recently, NEET coaching classes by government schools in Tamilnadu can also be boxed into that category. While both measures are desirable, they are only short-time fixes that address the symptoms of government failure. Through these measures, the author argues that the tragedy of the issue is lost, and the irony is ignored.

    the book paints a rather gloomy picture of the state of affairs where people are exiting from government services for private solutions. Although this ‘exodus’ is natural for rich people, abject government failures are pushing everyone into private solutions irrespective of affordability.

    To summarize, the book paints a rather gloomy picture of the state of affairs where people are exiting from government services for private solutions. Although this ‘exodus’ is natural for rich people, abject government failures are pushing everyone into private solutions irrespective of affordability. The book argues that people are assembling themselves into gated communities where these failures of government policies are taken care of by private solutions. The author has accomplished what he has set out to do- to show us in a platter, the sorry state of public policies and the many failures that it begot. It remains for the civil servants, politicians and the voting citizens on what their line of action will be.

  • Sanitation & Hygiene Concerns in Government Schools in Tamilnadu: Need for Digital Intervention

    Sanitation & Hygiene Concerns in Government Schools in Tamilnadu: Need for Digital Intervention

    Ensuring that there are proper health and hygiene facilities and awareness for girls at the school level is an extremely important building block for quality education. 

    Introduction

    Achieving quality education at school level is a dynamic process that needs to revise the elements according to the needs of the social setting. One such element is a  policy that promises an education system to promote gender equality from the grassroots. The problem needs an intervention with an enhanced infrastructure for maintaining sanitation and hygiene for girl students and a holistic understanding of gender issues through awareness that leads to organic social change. The state, undoubtedly, is responsible to ensure quality education and resolve the gaps in education using innovative methods. Tamil Nadu is one of the best performing states as far as literacy rate is concerned. However, realistic social barriers still exist that need intervention and customized strategy. According to the 2011 census, Tamil Nadu stood third after Kerala and Maharashtra. The male literacy rate was around 87% and the female literacy rate was around 73%. 

    This article attempts to decode the most important factors,sanitation and hygiene, in ensuring ‘quality’ of education for girls. This particular aspect encompasses three main Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the UN; Quality Education, Gender Equality and Water & Sanitation. The last goal of providing access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) particularly in rural areas is the means to achieve the former two goals of gender equality and quality education. 

    Need to prioritize WASH for quality education

    Tamil Nadu employs more than 50% of its women in remunerative labour. Girls tend to drop out of schools either because of customary practices or because of the demand for labour. In some cases The lack of awareness and knowledge on menstruation and menstrual practices are also major factors contributing to this drop out. Despite several initiatives and attempts at establishing proper sanitation and hygiene practices particularly in schools, most of these initiatives fail to gain attention across social barriers, especially those initiatives surrounding menstruation and their importance. This exposes the limitation of community-based initiatives and their impact. Specifically Water, Sanitation and Hygiene practices, commonly known as WASH. Tamil Nadu is estimated to have 6.1 million adolescent girls and yet around 7837 schools have either dysfunctional toilets or no toilet facilities at all. The implication of such poor infrastructure is an adverse impact on learning and results in drop out from schools in most of the cases. Ensuring that there are proper health and hygiene facilities and awareness for girls at the school level is an extremely important building block for quality education. 

    The lack of awareness and knowledge on menstruation and menstrual practices are also major factors contributing to this drop out. Despite several initiatives and attempts at establishing proper sanitation and hygiene practices particularly in schools, most of these initiatives fail to gain attention across social barriers, especially those initiatives surrounding menstruation and their importance.

    Access to toilets and sanitation facilities is a privilege that only a few have access to particularly in rural areas where people practice open defecation owing to the lack of toilets. Tamil Nadu has performed brilliantly in this respect since the implementation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Scheme in 2014. Over 48 lakh toilets were built in rural areas since 2014, with Tamil Nadu becoming an open-defecation free state. 

    The Government of India recognized the role played by sanitation and hygiene in ensuring that quality education is delivered. In 2014, the MHRD had launched the ‘Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalay’ initiative. The scheme was implemented to ensure that there were separate functional toilets for girls and boys. In addition to ensuring separate toilets, the scheme also focuses on maintaining a certain level of hygiene and sanitation. While it is not enough that this initiative  has been implemented in schools across the country, it is also important that parents, teachers and children are aware of the same. Proper hygiene and sanitation does not end in school,  it is imperative that this awareness is spread in local communities and villages as well. As a part of the scheme, government schools in rural and urban areas are eligible to nominate themselves for the ‘Swachh Vidyalay Puraskar’. This acts as an incentive for schools across the country to improve their WASH standards. 

    Capitalizing the Digital Wave

    With Tamil Nadu’s rural internet penetration through mobile phones at 41.98%, there is a significant potential that can be tapped in the state’s ICT usage. While creating awareness is one side of the coin, spreading awareness is another. This is where the potential of ICT can be harnessed, in spreading awareness. The government of Tamil Nadu has made available textbooks, lessons and other educational material on their ‘DIKSHA’ portal which is essentially a YouTube channel. On this channel, students from different classes can access their study material. This could be one of the possible means through which awareness can be created across districts and villages on the importance of sanitation and hygiene. 

    Some of the government schools in Tamil Nadu have demonstrated an exceptional WASH record, thereby proving the fact that if the administration is focused the results can be excellent as shown by Thiruvallur and Vellore districts. Schools in these districts have maintained excellent sanitation and hygiene standards and have been recipients of the SVP.  The initiatives taken by these schools to spread awareness on the importance of sanitation and hygiene have largely been behaviour oriented. By involving parents and the larger community, these initiatives have been successful and effective as well. Community-based initiatives are to create and spread awareness on various social welfare schemes. Apart from creating awareness, such initiatives also tend to bring communities together. The implementation of the SBSV scheme has facilitated the use of ICT as well. While the integration of ICT in the process is a welcome change, there is a lack of clarity on what exactly it is being used for. 

    Importance of awareness on Menstrual Hygiene 

    It has been established that several initiatives were taken in the past and are being taken to improve ‘WASH’ practices in the country, particularly in schools to improve enrollment rates as well as reduce dropout rates. Educational institutions in the country, particularly schools have an inherent responsibility to educate adolescent girls on menstruation, talk about the changes it brings about in a girl’s body. A 2014 report by Dasra foundation posits that close to 23 million girls drop out of school annually due to a lack of awareness. 79% of girls and women in Tamil Nadu were not aware of menstrual hygiene and practices that are followed at the time of menstruation. Lack of awareness of menstrual hygiene and the practices that are required to be followed at the time of menstruation makes a girl/woman extremely susceptible to infections. This is largely attributed to the stigma that is created around menstruation and the notion that it is an ‘impure’ phenomena. A study conducted in 2015, in Padappai, points out that only 43.33% of girls were aware of menstruation when they experienced it the first time. The source of information in most of these cases was the mother while the teachers and schools had a very small part to play in the process. Therefore,  a layer of stigma surrounding the issue is apparent that is far from being institutionalized. Institutionalizing the issue would lead to it being discussed in schools, which in turn would normalize it and break the stigma around it. There are a plethora of possibilities that ICT brings about. Schools could tap into this potential and make use of it to communicate effectively to their students. In rural India particularly, simply creating awareness and breaking the stigma around menstruation will not suffice. Often, this stigma is reinforced by  women in the family. In order to move beyond this, schools must ensure that lessons on menstruation are conducted for both girls and boys alike. Not only does this induce awareness among boys but it also makes them more sensitive to the issue. 

    A 2014 report by Dasra foundation posits that close to 23 million girls drop out of school annually due to a lack of awareness. 79% of girls and women in Tamil Nadu were not aware of menstrual hygiene and practices that are followed at the time of menstruation.

    Awareness through Digital Platform

    Tried and tested methods of spreading awareness in a community has generated results but is not enough. Improving sanitation and hygiene standards in learning institutions requires the participation of all the stakeholders involved in the process. While this may be an initial attempt at de-stigmatizing the issue, undoing centuries of discrimination and oppression requires a systemic approach. Tamil Nadu government’s ‘DIKSHA’ portal is a good place to start. In addition to developing online resources, there must also be some sort of portal that mandates uploading information related to the sanitation and hygiene measures that are being taken in schools. Additionally, it is important to use digital interventions to create awareness and reinforce the message in a timely manner. While infrastructure creation is a part of the goal, it is equally important to establish the need for it and educate people. This is where the digital intervention comes into the picture. One of the goals in Tamil Nadu’s Vision 2023 Project is to encourage PPP as a mechanism for infrastructure creation. This could be one of the potential means through which awareness is spread by introducing digital interventions in rural areas. It could either include installing a TV in Gram Panchayat offices which could display campaigns on the importance of sanitation and hygiene/menstrual hygiene, etc. With respect to creating awareness on menstrual hygiene which is a systemic issue because of the stigma attached to it – the solution needs to be systemic as well. For starters, creating conversation around menstruation is extremely important. Something called the ‘culture of silence’ exists in Kenya particularly in rural areas where girls refrain from speaking about menstruation and puberty. Identifying practices like this is a start when it comes to de-stigmatizing menstruation. While removing GST on sanitary napkins is one way to make the product more accessible, it is important to make people realize why there is a need for using one in the first place and the consequences of not using it. This brings us to the question of whether it is enough for the state to build infrastructure alone and if its responsibility ends there as opposed to also creating awareness on how to go about using the said infrastructure as well as educating people on its importance. 

    Ensuring  Effective Policies

    Some of the government schools in Tamil Nadu have demonstrated an exceptional WASH record, thereby proving the fact that if the administration is focused the results can be excellent as shown by Thiruvallur and Vellore districts. Schools in these districts have maintained excellent sanitation and hygiene standards and have been recipients of the SVP. 

    Initiatives like the SBA, SBSV and SVP are focussed around creating infrastructure and incentivizing schools to implement hygiene practices. Sanitation happens to be a state subject, and each state faces its own challenges with respect to addressing the problem. For instance in a state like Tamil Nadu where there is decent infrastructure, the drop-out rate for girls is still on the higher side. A lack of awareness on menstrual hygiene has also contributed to the drop-out rates in the state. Evidence suggests that not all government schools in Tamil Nadu have toilets and the ones that have toilets, do not maintain them well. Perhaps now the state must implement initiatives that focus on capacity building and behavioural change in order to ensure that the results are more impactful and also long-lasting. The initiatives that the state implements in the future must focus on intrinsically motivating people to implement sanitation and hygiene practices in their lives. Apart from that, the state must also conduct follow-up workshops that engage with people and communities and teach them how to use toilets, etc. In addition, whenever a new initiative/scheme is launched, state governments must also make sure that there are bodies/committees in place in every district that happens to be a beneficiary of the scheme. As communication becomes easier and more efficient in the digital age, initiatives that are implemented in the future must focus on knowledge creation. 

     

    References 

    https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/gender-dimensions-of-school-closures-in-india-during-covid19-lessons-from-ebola-66643/

    https://poshan.outlookindia.com/story/poshan-news-strong-connect-between-sanitation-and-health/348492

    https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/23-million-women-drop-out-of-school-every-year-when-they-start-menstruating-in-india-17838/

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6286883/

    http://sujal-swachhsangraha.gov.in/sites/default/files/Five%20schools-%20WASH%20in%20School%20-%20practices%2C%20Tamil%20Nadu-%20Clean%20school%20.pdf

    https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/Swachh_Vidyalay_Puraskar_Guidelines.pdf

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294638502_Awareness_about_menstrual_hygiene_among_adolescent_girls_in_rural_area_of_Kancheepuram_district_-_Tamilnadu

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/tn-second-in-rural-smartphone-use/articleshow/67291628.cms

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333561228_Availability_and_Utilization_of_Sanitation_Facilities_A_Micro_Study_from_Rural_Tamil_Nadu

    https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/swachh-bharat-abhiyan-tamil-nadu-to-go-open-defecation-free-on-october-2-25278/#:~:text=Tamil%20Nadu’s%20Swachh%20Bharat%20Abhiyan%20Journey&text=The%20state%20has%20a%20total,declared%20free%20from%20open%20defecation.&text=Tamil%20Nadu%20has%20improved%20its,per%20cent%20in%20four%20years.&text=Over%2048%20lakh%20toilets%20(48,since%202014%20in%20rural%20areas.

    https://www.wsscc.org/2016/08/10/wsscc-menstrual-hygiene-management-training-kenya-breaks-silence-menstruation/