Nirmal Gram: Problems and Prospects

Prioritizing the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation to its people sets a country on the path to achieving standards of human development indices such as reduced crude death rate, increased life expectancy at the time of birth, low infant mortality rate and low maternal mortality rate

T he quality of life of an individual is largely dependent on the availability of adequate safe drinking water and proper sanitation. A country interested in achieving decent standards of human development indices such as reduced crude death rate, increased life expectancy at the time of birth, low infant mortality rate (IMR) and low maternal mortality rate (MMR) gives priority to the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation to its people.

The lack of safe disposal of human excreta, improper environmental sanitation and poor personal hygiene have a direct correlation with many diseases in developing countries. The use of the Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) by a majority of the population is a good indicator of improved access to better sanitation facilities. Studies reveal that the IMR is low in states where the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) has a greater coverage. For example, Tamil Nadu has achieved 77 per cent of its IHHL target and has an IMR of 28. On the other hand, Bihar has covered only 31 per cent of its target and its IMR is 48. Because of the non-availability of IHHLs, the incidence of diarrhoeal and other gastro-intestinal diseases in India is rampant; this is why the present IMR or under-five (U5) mortality in India is high in comparison to the developed countries and even to neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and China.

The implementation of the Rural Sanitation Programme has never been a priority in India. It was only as recently as 1986 that the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) was launched by the Government of India (GoI) as a Department in the Ministry of Urban Development. CRSP was a supply-driven programme, in which a latrine was provided to a rural family without creating a demand for it. Moreover, the financial allocation for the programme was very little. As a result, the few latrines that were provided to the rural households were not used. A study conducted in West Bengal during 1988–89 revealed that most of the latrines that were provided under the CRSP were used either for storing firewood or keeping domestic animals. As a result, even after five years of the implementation of the CRSP, there was no visible progress in providing rural families access to household latrines (as per the 1991 Census, access to household latrines in rural areas was 9.48 per cent).