Swachh Gaon Kalwari: Community Engagement for a Clean Village
“Improving sanitation facilities and making them sustainable means changing behaviour. Helping people to understand the importance of toilets can inspire them to invest their time and resources in upgrading these facilities and taking care of them. The benefits of a toilet are not only health-related—the pride, dignity and convenience that they bring are usually more important in convincing people to use them.”
A ccording to the 2011 Census report, less than half of the Indian homes have toilets. The 2012 National Sample Survey Office records reinforce this abysmal state of sanitation in India, reporting that only 32 per cent of rural households in India have toilets. There are glaring exceptions as well; for example, in Kalwari village of the Tauru block in Nuh (erstwhile Mewat) district of Haryana, the villagers have worked hard to create sustainable sanitation practices. Almost 90 per cent of the Kalwari households have constructed toilets, and the village has almost no open defecation. The village has proper drainage and garbage disposal systems for waste management. The residents of Kalwari have taken great strides toward their goal of leading healthy and dignified lives by achieving these sanitation successes. This village, just like thousands of other villages in India, once struggled with the sanitation issue but now serves as an example of how to create swachh gaons (clean villages).
Kalwari Gaon
The village of Kalwari, as per the 2011 Census, has 519 resident families with a population of 2,751 (1,462 men and 1,289 women). The village is located on the border of Nuh and Gurugram (erstwhile Gurgaon) districts, 24 km north of the district headquarters in Nuh block and 8 km from the Tauru block headquarters. Kalwari has four anganwadi centres and two government schools. The overall literacy rate of the village is 78.38 per cent, 89.31 per cent (men) and 65.99 per cent (women). Agriculture is the primary occupation in the village. The majority of young people are keen to work with the government.