Reports

Even though multiple government schemes have been implemented and, various anti-scavenging legislations exist, the practice continues. Intervention by the legislative and judiciary have not seen much success in eliminating the problem. The manual scavenging communities still suffer due to persistent discrimination, lack of information, improper implementation of laws and lack of alternative way of livelihood. But the point to consider here is that there is a subtext of brutal oppression on the basis of caste also. What these people have been made to do and are still being made to do is a matter of national shame. Manual scavenging is nothing short of a moral tragedy. The daily routine of people engaged in manual scavenging should serve as a reminder to all of us about the harsh realities of the society we have created and are living in. The need of the hour is not just a law that prohibits manual scavenging but also a tangible and solid action plan to help those who are trapped.

This study was initiated and funded by WaterAid India, to understand the ground realities on faecal sludge management and its associated behavior across the slums of Hyderabad and Kamareddy town in Telangana State. There is very little information available on faecal sludge emptying and transportation service delivery across significant cities because the management of excreta along the sanitation chain is not recognized.

Rapid urbanisation is a global phenomenon leading to the proliferation and expansion urban services. Indian cities and small towns are facing the enormous challenge of building adequate infrastructure and providing coverage, primarily in the water supply and sanitation sector. The burden of WASH crisis in urban areas is borne by the Slum dwellers. Comparative global studies have shown that an average slum dweller pays more for drinking water than a middle class urbanite (Yang, Hong et al, 2012). And sanitation facilities are often poor, inadequate or non-existent in urban slums.

Only about half of the population living in the slum areas of Hyderabad, India, have access to clean drinking water. Often overlooked and under prioritized by their government, slum dwellers have to unite for their rights, making the need for civic education more important now than ever. SaciWATERs (South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies) created the Citizen’s First Campaign to address this crucial need. The Carey GMBA Consulting Team partnered with SaciWATERs to create an educator toolkit to be implemented in high-poverty schools to further SaciWATERs’ mission of improving water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practice adoption and advocacy through Child Cabinets (government-mandated student governments) in these areas.

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide schools with an exhaustive and concrete resource to aid in the establishment and/or improvement of Child Cabinets. This toolkit uniquely emphasizes the importance of utilizing Child Cabinets to reinforce sanitation and hygiene practices through peer-to-peer education and leadership. This toolkit includes interactive activities that can be utilized by both educators and Child Cabinet Ministers to make WASH practices inherent in every Child Cabinet Minister’s role. The purpose of this toolkit is to improve school-wide WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) practice adoption as well as teach self-advocacy through the establishment and/or improvement of Child Cabinet roles.

After the family, schools are most important places of learning for children; they have a central place in the community. Schools are a stimulating learning environment for children and stimulate or initiate change. If sanitary facilities in schools are available, they can act as a model, and teachers can function as role models. Schools can also influence communities through outreach activities, since through their students, schools are in touch with a large proportion of the households in a community

The extent and pace of urbanization that has been taking place in India, most of the municipal governments are unequipped physically, fiscally, politically and administratively to tackle the problems of providing the basic infrastructure services to their people. The service delivery of urban services was inefficient and often inadequate to support ever increasing population levels.