Better toilets, better life

It is very fashionable and proper
to speak about food

in all its forms, all its colors, aromas
and tastes.

But after the food goes to
the digestive system,

when it is thrown out as crap,

it is no more fashionable
to speak about it.

it is rather revolting.

I'm a guy who has graduated from
bullshit to full-shit.

My organization, Gram Vikas, which means
village development organization,

was working in the area of renewable energy.

For the most part, we were
producing biogas,

biogas for rural kitchens.

We produce biogas in India using
animal manure.

But usually in India, it's called cow dung.

But as the gender-sensitive
person that I am,

I would like to call it bull-shit.

But realizing it later on how important
sanitation was

and the disposal of crap in a proper way,

we delved into the arena of sanitation.

80 percent of all diseases in India and
most developing countries

are because of poor quality water.

And when we look at the reason
for poor quality water,

it is at dismal attitude to the
disposal of waste.

Human waste, in its rawest form,

finds its way back to drinking water,
bathing water, washing water,

irrigation water, whatever you see.

And this calls for for 80 percent
of the diseases in rural areas.

In India, it is unfortunately only the
women who carry water.

So for all domestic needs, women
need to carry water.

It is a pitiable state of affairs.

Open defecation is rampant.

70 percent of rural india defecates
in the open.

They sit there out of the open,

with the wind in their sails,

hiding their faces, exposing their bases,

and sitting their in pristine glory.

70 percent of India.

And if you look at the world total,

60 percent of all the crap that
is thrown into the open

is from Indians.

A fantastic distinction.

I don't know if we Indians can be proud
of such a distinction.

(Laughter).

So we, together with a lot of villages,

we began to talk about how to really
address this problem of sanitation.

And we came together and formed
a project called MANTRA.

MANTRA stands for Movement and Action
Network for Transformation of Rural Areas.

So we are speaking about transformation,

transformation in rural areas.

Villages that agree to organize
this project,

they organize a legal society

where the the general body
consists of all memebers

who elect a group of men and women

who implement he project and later on,

look after the operation and maintenance.

They decide to build a toilet
and a shower room

and from a protected water source,

water will be brought to an elevated water
reservoir and piped to all households

through three taps:

one in the toilet, one in the shower,
one in the kitchen.

24 hours a day.

The pity is that cities like Bombay
do not have 24 hours water supply.

But in these villages we want to have

there is a distinct difference in the quality.

Well India, we have a theory,

which is very much accepted by
the government bureaucracy

and all those who matter that poor
people deserve poor solutions

and absolutely poor people deserve
pathetic solutions.

This combined with a Nobel Prize -worthy
theory that the cheapest

is the most economic.

This is the heady cocktail that the poor
are forced to drink.

We are fighting against this/

We feel that the poor have been
humiliated for centuries.

And even in sanitation,

they should not be humiliated.

Sanitation is more about dignitity

than about human disposal of waste.

And so you build these toilets
and very often,

we have to hear that their toilets are
better than their houses.

And you can see attached houses

and the others are the toilet.

So these people without a single
exception of a family in a village,

decided to build a toilet a bathing room.

And they come together,

collect all the local materials,

local materials like rubber, sand
aggregates,

usually a government subsidy is available

to meet at least part of the cost of
external materials,

part of the cost of external materials,

like cement, steel, toilet commode.

And they build a toilet and a bathing room.

Also all the unskilled laborers like daily
wage earners, mostly landless,

are given an opportunity to be
trained as masons and plumbers.

So while these people are being trained,
others are collecting the materials.

And when both are ready,

they build a toilet, a shower room,
and of course also a water tower,

an elevated water reservoir.

We use a system of pitch pits
to treat the waste from the toilet.

The muck comes into the first pitch pit

and when it is full,

it is blocked and it can't go to the next.

But we discovered that if you plant
banana trees, papaya trees

on the prorifery of these litch pits,

they grow very well because they suck
all the nutrients

and you get very tasty bananas, papayas.

If any of you come to my place,

I would be happy to share these bananas
and papayas with you.

So here you can see the completed toilets

the water towers.

This is in a village where
most of the people

are even illiterate.

It is also a 24-hour water supply

because water gets polluted, very often
when you store it,

a child dips his or her hand into it,

something falls into it.

So no water is stored.

Its always on tap.

This is how a elevated water reservoir
is constructed.

And that is the end product,

because it has to go high,

two or three rooms are made available
under the tower,

which is used by the village for
different committee meetings.

We have had clear evidence of the great
impact of this program.

Before we started, there were, as usual

more than 80 percent of people suffering
from water-borne diseases.

But after this, we have empirical evidence
that 82 percent, on an average,

among all these villages,

1,200 villages have completed,

82 of them, their water-borne diseases
have come down.

(Applause).

Women usually used to spend,
especially in sumer months,

about 6-7 hours a day carrying water.

And when they went for carrying water,

because, as I said earlier,

its only women who carry water,

they used to take their little children,
girl children,

also to carry water,

to be back at home to look
over the siblings.

So there was less than 9 percent
of girl children attending school.

And boys, about 30 percent.

But girls, it has gone to about 90 percent

and boys, almost 200 percent.

(Applause).

The most vulnerable sections
in the villages

are the landless laborers.

Because they have gone
through this training

to be masons and plumbers and bartenders,

Now, their ability to earn has
increased 300-400 percent.

So this is a democracy in action

because there is a general body,
a governing board.

The committee people are questioning,

people are governing themselves,

people are learning to manage
their own affairs,

they are taking their own futures
into their own hands.

and that is democracy at
the grassroots level in action.

More than1, 200 villages
have so far done this.

It benefits over 400,000 people

and it's still going on.

And I hope it continues to move ahead.

For India and such developing countries,

armies and armaments,

software companies and spaceships

may not be as important
as taps and toilets.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

(Applause).

Thank you.