Sulabh India Magazine February 2015

ISSN: 2230–7567

R.N.I. Regn. No. 49322/89

ISSN: 2230–7567

FEBRUARY 2015, ` 20/-

Sant

Ravidas Jayanti February 3, 2015 Sant Ravidas, a Hindu social reformer, openly challenged social inequalities and evils like the caste system and untouchability. The pious soul was an ardent devotee of Sri Ram and his compositions inspired the Bhakti movement in North India during the medieval period.

From childhood, he showed inclination for spiritual activities. He carried this zest of spirituality all this life and spearheaded the fight against discrimination based on caste and preached the idea of equality.

Hon’ble Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, being felicitated by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Sulabh Founder, with a memento

World Day of

Key Facts

• Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 8.2 million deaths in 2012.

• About 30% of cancer deaths are due to the five leading behavioral and dietary risks: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol use.

• Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer causing 22% of global cancer deaths and 71% of global lung cancer deaths.

Each year on 4 February, WHO and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) supports Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer.

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth and spread of cells. It can affect almost any part of the body. The growths often invade surrounding tissue and can metastasize to distant sites. Many cancers can be prevented by avoiding exposure to common risk factors, such as tobacco smoke. In addition, a significant proportion of cancers can be cured, by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, especially if they are detected early.

Taking place under the tagline ‘Not beyond us’, World Cancer Day 2015 takes a positive and proactive approach to the fight against cancer, highlighting that solutions do exist across the continuum of cancer, and that they are within our reach. The campaign explores how we can implement what we already know in the areas of prevention, early detection, treatment and care.

Social Justice Friday, February 20

The United Nations' (UN) World Day of Social Justice is annually observed on February 20 to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration.

Contents February, 2015

Editor-in-Chief

Volume: 27 Issue 2

Bindeshwar Pathak Managing Editor

Kumar Dilip Editor

S.P.N. Sinha Joint Editor

Janak Singh Editorial Advisory Board S.P. Singh Sidheshwar Dhari Sinha Arjun Prasad Singh R.S. Srivastava Ashok Kumar Jyoti C.P. Nambiar Pramod Makkad

Cover story

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Art Director Debabrata Chatterjee Design & Layout Anil Khanna Shashi Dhar Printed & Published by Ram Chandra Jha On behalf of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation Published at RZ-83, Mahavir Enclave Palam-Dabri Road, New Delhi-110045 Ph. : +91-11-25031518, 25031519 Fax: +91-11-25034014 Email : info@sulabhinternational.org contact@sulabhinternational.org sulabhinfo@gmail.com sulabhindiainfo@gmail.com Website : www.sulabhinternational.org www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org Printed at Xtreme Office Aids (Pvt.) Ltd. WZ-219A, Street No. 7, Lajwanti Garden, New Delhi-110 046 Phone : +91-11-28523637 Editor's Name : S.P.N. Sinha Entire contents (C) Sulabh International Social Service Organisation. All rights reserved.

Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Requests for permission should be sent to Editor, Sulabh India. Opinions expressed in the contents are the contributors’ and not necessarily endorsed by the publisher who assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited material, nor is he responsible for material lost or damaged in transit. All enquiries/correspondence regarding editorial, advertisement, subscription or circulation should be addressed to the Editor, Sulabh India, and sent on the address given here in above.

R.N.I. Regn. No. 49322/89 ISSN: 2230–7567

From the Editor's Desk 04 NGO and Government: Two sides of same coin COVER STORY 05 AgriHorti Tech Fair Hon’ble Akhilesh Yadav’s initiative to modernize agriculture Summit 07 India Sanitation Summit 2015 Salvation through Sanitation 38 Solving the Sanitation Riddle?

Mission 10 NGOs to join Corporates in Swachh Bharat Campaign Award 12 Sardar Patel Award to Dr. Pathak 13 Vivekanand Sewa Samman 14 Lord Baden Powel Award for Dr. Pathak with others Focus 15 Nostalgic Holi for Varanasi widows at Assi Ghat 19 Gift of Sulabh to villageMadhusudan Kati 27 Planning Commission and Niti Aayog Last socialist bastion falls Seminar 17 Sant Ravidas more relevant today 20 Sanitation is Key to Good Environment Workshop 22 INDOVATION: Key to Growth 29 Workshop on Swachh Bharat Mission February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Talk 23 IIT–Talk on Social Entrepreneurship Conference 25 Museologists’ Meet in Guwahati Health 30 Swine Flu

Sanitation 32 Sharing Environmental Hygiene with Law Students Distinguished Visitors 33 IFS Trainees on Sulabh Campus 35 Hon'ble Pankaj Choudhary M.P. Visits Sulabh 36 Hon’ble Mayor of Varanasi Visits Sulabh 37 Hon'ble Mr. Mohan Lal Gupta MLA on Sulabh Campus 45 Distinguished Visitors STORY 40 A String of Beads From The Press 43 National Duniya 43 The Pioneer 44 The Times of India Sulabh News from States 51 Chhatisgarh 51 Goa 51 Jammu & Kashmir 52 Jharkhand 53 Madhya Pradesh 53 Maharashtra 54 Uttar Pradesh 3

From the Editor'S Desk

NGO and Government: Two sides of same coin ean Monnet, the post-war architect of the European Union, once wrote: “Nothing is possible without men, but nothing is lasting without institutions.”

When humankind fails, the best institutions save it from the brink.

And thus, the concept of non-government organisation was born, first coined in 1945, when the United Nations made it possible for specialized international non-state agencies to be awarded observer status at its assemblies. (Sulabh which has ‘General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations’ is one such case). Today, according to the UN, any kind of private organization that is independent from government control can be termed an ‘NGO’, provided it is not-for-profit, non-criminal and nonpolitical.

The United States is estimated to have 1.5 million NGOs. Russia has 277,000 NGOs; India is estimated to have 2 million NGOs, just over one NGO per 600 Indians. Or, many times more than the number of primary schools and primary health centres in India. NGOs work where the government organisations cannot. Law cannot change human behaviour, habits, or perception nor can it reinforce civil responsibilities. Only an NGO can do it. Hence the relevance of this non-state institution.

Today, only about 50% of the Indian population have toilets. Poor sanitation has accounted for India having the highest rates of malnutrition, stunting and mental retardation in the world. Hygiene problems lead to almost chronic gastrointestinal infections which cause many other problems.

We are talking about tens of millions of Indians afflicted in this way. We have more sanitationrelated health problems than can be identified including pollution and related diseases.

No wonder Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made sanitation a key policy objective of his government. He is the first Indian leader since Mahatma Gandhi to talk repeatedly about this subject which was a taboo before. He is not just

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talking about it; he is trying to do something fairly monumental for us. Since Modi’s coming to power, the government has built half a million toilets; it may well build another 100 million in the next few years Sulabh accounting for most of them. Sulabh has been doing it for 42 years.

Surely most of the sanitation problems will go away if adequate toilets are built up. But now the question is how to do so. We have many toilets. Some of them don’t have light. Others are inoperative. Many of them are located in places that are not safe for women and children. There are maintenance or planning problems which need to be addressed. But the problem is essentially cultural.

Open defecation has been an accepted social problem which the government alone can’t resolve.

To be true, the government is the product of law which is enforced by the police. The state power is manifest in the army, weapons and guns.

All deadly wars, since the Roman times, were fought by the states represented by kings, emperors and dictators. NGOs, on the other hand, survive on the goodwill of the people; their weapons are persuasion, pressure and campaigning, not war.

NGOs change habits, influence cultural preferences and demolish prejudices which cannot be done by law alone. NGOs’ services are especially useful in sanitation, water supply and health.

For instance, there are laws, banning untouchability, casteism and dowry but they are still being practised in full view of the police. Law cannot change society; pressure, persuasion and education can do. For that matter, NGOs have much larger areas of human behaviour to change and, hence, have greater responsibility towards society. No government is ever known to have fallen from power because the laws were not properly implemented. The best result is achieved when the government and NGOs work together to transform society. Sulabh is again one such case and this is the sole reason for its success in the areas where others have failed. Very clearly, the government can survive without doing anything but a voluntary organisation can’t. An NGO must deliver or go.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

COVER STORY

AgriHorti Tech Fair

Hon’ble Akhilesh Yadav’s

initiative to modernize agriculture Sulabh Bureau

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with the Uttar Pradesh Government organised a three-day AgriHorti Tech-2015 exhibition at Sri Kashiramji Sanskritik Sthal in Lucknow. It was inaugurated by Hon’ble Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on January 22.

he Chief Minister arrived to a warm welcome of bouquets and shawls presented to him by participants in the fair. Surrounded by officials of the State government and the security staff, the Chief Minister moved from stall to stall in the vast enclosure where the fair was held. After going round the stalls, he came to the dais and along with some other VIPs, performed the inaugural ritual of lighting the traditional lamp. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder, Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement and representatives of big and small industrial houses also participated in the lamp lighting ceremony.

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COVER STORY

Hon’ble Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, being felicitated by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Sulabh Founder, with a presentation

After the singing of the National Anthem, the Chief Minister was invited to present awards to participants in the fair. Some were given away models of peacocks and some other different animals. Each award winner had the distinction of wearing across their shoulders special creamy shawls presented to them by the Chief Minister. Before receiving the award for Sulabh stalls, Dr. Pathak presented to Chief Minister a souvenir which he was very happy to receive and get himself photographed while holding it in his hand.

In his inaugural address, Hon’ble Mr. Yadav expressed deep concern about the farming community and said that he wanted to see all the farmers of the state more prosperous, for farmers played a key role in laying the foundation of prosperity of the country. No nation has been able to march forward without the backing of the farming community. They not only feed the nation, but also provide basic raw materials needed for industrial growth. Whatever the farmers demand – agricultural inputs like fertilisers, availability of water, abundant supply of power for running tube wells and for other mechanised agricultural operations – the State government would go out of the way to make all these things available at affordable rates.

The Chief Minister said he was very happy to see large-scale participation of farmers in the fair, which is a venue for them to draw attention to their needs and see for themselves latest technology coming into the market to raise farm outputs. The State government would pay great attention to the “growers of wheat, corn, cane and all kinds of vegetables”, for without their happiness and support the

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state could not march ahead of other regions in the country, the Chief Minister added.

The Chief Minister specially appreciated the participation of industries in the fair, for exhibiting machinery and gadgets which could transform the lives of farmers from struggling cultivators to prosperous participants in the economic growth of Uttar Pradesh.

The Chief Minister going round various stalls was very happy to be greeted by the Sulabh Founder, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak at the Sulabh stall manned by liberated scavenging women from Alwar and Tonk (Rajasthan).

Beautiful embroidery products exhibited here especially caught the Chief Minister’s attention. Happily, Mr. Yadav agreed to be photographed with all the former scavenging women who were present at the stall. The Chief Minister’s happiness knew no bound when he came to the stall managed by widows of Varanasi and Vrindavan. He had a special word of praise for Dr. Pathak for the way he was going about looking after the most neglected sections of society, be they scavengers or widows abandoned by their own kith and kin. The Chief Minister appreciated the pioneering work done by Sulabh in the field of sanitation and social reform.

He also referred to the Kamdhenu policy of his government aimed at developing markets for potato, wheat, fruits, vegetable and dairy products on the Agra-Lucknow Highway. The government is also promoting poultry and fisheries, he said.

Mr. Lalit Khaitan, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lucknow, welcomed the farmers from Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, who participated in the exhibition.

The participation of foreign countries like Italy, Israel and the Netherlands helped the visitors and farmers to exchange their technical know-how with them.

On the first day, 15 farmers of Uttar Pradesh were felicitated by the Chief Minister for their outstanding achievements in agriculture. On the second day of the fair the farmers had direct interaction with representatives of top banks and financial institutions. The exhibition remained open till January 24.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Summit

India Sanitation Summit 2015

Salvation through Sanitation Pramod Makkad

Every 20 second, a child dies of sanitation related diseases, and more than half the health problem is caused. We don't do simple things like washing hand, not defecating in the open or keeping places clean. Let us do it now, and live well. he PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with the India CSR Group organised the India Sanitation Summit-2015 at the Lakshmipat Singhania Auditorium in New Delhi on February 6. Eminent personalities from both social and corporate sectors spoke on important topics such as gender sensitive toilet construction, human rights and the toilet movement and socio-cultural aspects of toilet usage in the country.

Mr. H.K. Patil, Hon’ble Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka, was the chief guest of the event. The Sulabh Founder, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak who is a stalwart in the sanitation sector, was given life time achievement award at the function. The award was handed over to him by Mr. H.K. Patil and Mr. Matteo Rizzi of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Several other awards were also given to deserving people and companies on the occasion Established in 1905, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a proactive and dynamic multi-state apex organization working at the grassroots level and with the national and international linkages. It acts as a catalyst in the promotion of industry, trade and entrepreneurship. It not only plays a vital role in the development and economic growth of

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After Prime Minister Modi’s speech at Madison Square in New York one must now say: ‘‘India happened today and it is time for Indians to happen.’’

Just as we look for meditation for salvation our new slogan must be ‘Sanitation for Salvation,

the country but also helps, although indirectly, create a number of job opportunities.

Dr. Rana Singh, co-founder of the CSR Group, said that India has been tackling several

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Summit

social issues since Independence, but still we have several new challenges before us which we have to take up. One of the biggest challenges is to provide sanitation facilities to all citizens of the country. He appreciated the steps taken by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, in regard to bringing cleanliness to the country as well as replacing the Planning Commission with the Niti Aayog. He also appreciated the effort made by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, for changing the face of sanitation in India over the last four decades.

Mr. Rusen Kumar, Founder and Director of the India CSR Group in his welcome speech said he has very little to say about sanitation when several experts are waiting on the dais to speak on the subject.

Mr. H.K. Patil, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak , Mr. Tushar A. Gandhi, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Ajay Choudhary, IPS and OSD to the Lieutenant Governor, Delhi, H.H. Pujya Swami Chidananda Saraswatiji, and Mr. Matteo Rizzi from Hindustan UniLever formally inaugurated the summit by lighting the lamp.

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H.H. Pujya Swami Chidananda Saraswatiji said that India’s profile is changing and we need innovation in our thinking. He called Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of the toilet revolution and said there is still a long way to go. After Prime Minister Modi’s speech at Madison Square in New York one must now say: ‘‘India happened today and it is time for Indians to happen.’’ Just as we look for meditation for salvation our new slogan must be ‘Sanitation for Salvation, he said, Apart from personal hygiene, he stressed the need for mental purity to free ourselves from hatred and violence based on caste and religion.

Mr. Ajay Chaudhary said that in spite of the enactment of law banning manual scavenging, it is still prevalent in several states.

Women from lower castes are not allowed to fetch water from the wells belonging to the upper castes people.

Mr. Matteo Rizzi said that HUL has always been working on projects relating to sanitation, health and education. Drawing inspiration from the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi who has called for toilets for all by 2019, HUL believes in sustainable growth, he added.

Dr. Suresh Goel, PHD Chamber, regretted that India which is the land of 1.2 billion, lacks the facility of toilets. Strangely several people, who have toilets in their homes, still defecate in the open.

Mr. Sunil Ramdas Agrawal, entrepreneur and philanthropist mentor of the India CSR Group, declared: “Yesterday is a cancelled cheque, tomorrow is a promissory note and today is only cash. So spend it wisely.” He reminded the audience of the directive in Puranas where it is mentioned that one should defecate at a far distance from one’s home. But today we need a toilet right inside our home.

Mr. Tushar A. Gandhi said after flushing the toilet we are not bothered about the excreta. But we are not at all concerned about the environment. He said that Gandhiji rightly advocated for a pit latrine. In a pit latrine sand is used instead of water. Actually, Gandhiji had laid out a plan for village sanitation.

In his motivating speech Mr. H. K. Patil thanked the organisers for holding a summit for toilets. He said that it is a matter of great concern that in every 20 seconds we lose a child, mostly in poor families, because of lack of sanitation facilities. India is a democratic

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

country and every citizen, no matter from rural area or urban area, has the right to potable water. He also disclosed that Karnataka would be totally free from open defecation by 2018.

Mr. H.K. Patil stressed the importance of bathrooms too, as several women in villages still have to take bath in the open which is most shameful. He said the State is now constructing sanitation complexes which will consist of toilets, bathrooms, washing space, dressing rooms etc. The Minister’s suggestion to ask the NGOs and other agencies to adopt villages and make them open defecation-free was applauded by the audience. This will also include educating them about sanitation and changing their mindsets.

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, who is often called the Swachhatta Rishi due to his relentless hardwork in the sanitation sector, repeated his words that he is a true follower of Mahatma

Gandhi whose philosophies are very much relevant today and will remain so until the end of the world. Dr. Pathak said that application of mind is more important than tons of acquired knowledge.

The audience listened with attention to the story of Dr. Pathak’s earlier struggles for launching the Sulabh movement, which ultimately changed the sanitation scenario in the country. He made the people laugh by telling a water closet story that clearly gave the true picture of sanitation in India in those days.

Dr. Pathak also told the audience that Sulabh is also providing drinking water that is pure and arsenic-free and that too for just 50 paise per litre. He received a loud applause when he said that when Gandhiji was alive he lived in Sabarmati, Valmiki and Wardha Ashrams, but now he lives on the Sulabh Campus.

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MISSION COVER STORY

NGOs to join Corporates in Swachh Bharat Campaign Janak Singh

Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder, Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement, appealed to all NGOs at the Eastern India CSR Summit 2015 in ITC Sonar Hotel, Kolkata on February 17 to come forward and contribute to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by the Prime Minister, Hon’ble Mr. Narendra Modi.

Dr. Pathak, who was invited as a ‘Special Guest’ at the summit, said NGOs could help by giving training in execution and implementation of projects related to the Swachh Bharat Campaign. He talked about Sulabh’s partnership with the Bharti Foundation and its commitment to provide toilets in each and every house of Ludhiana.

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Speaking during the panel discussion on ‘Development of a new ecosystem of CSR’ – understanding of the importance of stakeholders’ engagement with special reference to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan – Dr. Pathak specially thanked SoulAce and the Indian Chamber of Commerce for organising the summit.

The other participants in the summit included Prof. K.J. Nath, Chairman, Science & Technology, Sulabh International and former Director, All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Government of India, Mr. Navin Singh, Consultant – SoulAce Social Venture, Dr. Y.K. Saxena, Chief Sustainability Officer, Tata Power and Ms. Seema Tiwari, Head-CSR, Godrej & Boyce.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

MISSION

Dr. Pathak said that earlier the government used to give financial assistance for several welfare projects but now CSR has got huge impetus by the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiated by Mr. Narendra Modi, who has made elimination of open defecation the top priority on his agenda for the rapid development of the country.

Key Speakers

The key speakers at the summit were: Government representatives (Minister of Corporate Affairs, GOI), promoters / CEOs of eastern India headquartered companies active in CSR, CSR and sustainability heads, promoters of NGOs active in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Sulabh, Bhoruka etc), government representatives, including Mr. Sarbananda Sonowa, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr. Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Mr. Babul Supriyo, Minister of State, Ministry of Urban Development, the promoters of NGOs, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, besides honchos, Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Dr. Ashesh Ambasta, Vice- President, ITC Limited, Mr. S. Bhattacharya, Chairman-cum Managing Director, Coal India Limited; Mr. Y. K Saxena, Chief Sustainability Officer, TATA Power, Mr. Anurag Batra, Chairman, Business World, Ms. Seema Tiwari, CSR Head, Godrej & Boyce, Dr. Pragnya Ram, Group Executive President, Corporate communications & CSR, Aditya Birla Group, Mr. Kalyan Ranjan, VicePresident, Public Affairs & Communications, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages, Mr. Ashish Mathur, Managing Director, JUSCO, Mr. Aditya V. Agarwal, Director, Emami Ltd. Mr. Amritanshu Khaitan, Managing Director, Eveready Industries, Mr. Prasant Bangur, Director, Shree Cement, Mr. Rakesh Sethi, Chairman & Managing Director, Allahabad Bank; Mr. Arun Kaul, Chairman and Managing Director, Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India and many others from the corporate world.

Sponsorship for Athletes

Sponsorship for Athletic Claiming that the country can win more than 10 medals in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Sports Minister

Now CSR has got huge impetus by the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiated by Mr. Narendra Modi, who has made elimination of open defecation the top priority on his agenda for the rapid development of the country Sarbananda Sonowal asked the corporate sector to come forward and sponsor the athletes so that India can become a sporting power in the near future.

Mr. Sonowal said: “Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme aims to increase the country's medal tally at Rio 2016 and identify potential future stars for Tokyo 2020. We are aiming for 10-plus medals in Rio 2016 and for that the corporate houses have to come forward to patronise budding talents selected as Olympic probables to provide them training and competition exposure and inputs required for proper training”.

“If corporate houses spend a portion of their CSR funds towards promotion of sports, India will surely emerge as the superpower in sports in the world,” the minister said and added his Ministry has identified seven sports as medal prospect disciplines for the Rio Olympic 2016 and identified 75 core probables and another 75 probables will be selected shortly. The disciplines are archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, shooting, weightlifting and wrestling.

He said under CSR, contribution of funds can be made towards National Sports Development Fund under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, created for the support of talented sports persons in their training and competitions and also for financial support to former Olympians in setting up their Sports Academies.

Mr. Sonowal further said: “We need Rs. 7,000 crore to create sports infrastructure at block level across the country. We have over 6,000 blocks and over six lakh villages and the government intended to create sports infrastructure that can be connected to each village to spot the talents at the remotest corner of the country”. Disability sports centre and sports university were among other programmes of the government. The Union Minister of State of Social justice and Empowerment, Mr. Krishan Pal Gurjar, also drew attention to the efforts of the government and said corporates should help in CSR activity.

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Award

Sardar Patel Award to Dr. Pathak Pramod Makkad

No human beings should be deprived of basic rights to survival, participation, protection and development

Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, was among the seven recipients of this year’s Sardar Patel Award. He was given this award on February 9, 2015 at a function at Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi, for his excellence in the field of social development.

Prof. C.R. Rao, who is a Research Professor at University of Buffalo (USA), was selected for the Sardar Ratna Award for his excellence in the field of mathematics and statistics, while Prof. (Dr.) Ravindra Kumar was awarded the Sardar Ratna Award for his excellent role in the field of globalization of Sardar’s ideology.

Other eminent personalities who received the Sardar Patel Award were Brig. (Dr.) Ajay Sharma for his excellence in the field of medical research, Col. K.S. Brar, VSM for excellence in the field of Endocrinology Research, Dr. Akshay Anand for work in Biological Science, Prof.(Dr.) D. P. Sharma for his work in the field of education, Mr. Manoj Thakkar for his work in literature and in spiritual field and Prof. (Dr.) G. Manoj Someswar for his work in Academic Literature.

Mr. Ram Avatar Shastry, President of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Foundation which instituted the awards said the Foundation was to promote

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the ideals of Sardar Patel that no human beings should be deprived of basic rights to survival, participation, protection and development. He urged for making the Foundation stronger with help and support from government and others.

The Foundation is based on humanity and human rights to work for improvisation of the weaker section and has been creating health awareness all over India and abroad.

It catalyzes a national movement for universalization of elementary education in India. The Sardar Ratna Award was instituted in 2006 and Sardar Patel Award was instituted to spread the message of unity among Indian nationals either living in India or abroad.

While receiving the award Dr. Pathak congratulated all other recipients of the awards and thanked the Foundation. He described his Sulabh Movement as a ‘protest movement’ as “we protest all the customary views that oblige us to exploit the downtrodden.” He said Sulabh has given smiles to millions of faces that had shed tears when they were treated as untouchables for centuries.

Prof. (Dr.) Ravindra Kumar said that the works done by Sardar Patel are incomparable and unique.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Award

Vivekanand Sewa Samman Sulabh Bureau

ne who inspires others may not be aware of one’s own inspiration in life. More than four decades ago when people started hearing about Sulabh, they might not have thought that this institution would reach the pinnacle of success in the field of social service”, said Hon’ble Mr. Keshari Nath Tripathy, Governor of West Bengal, while conferring the Swami Vivekanand Sewa Sammaan 2015 upon Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak on February 1 at the Kumarsabha Library, Sri Bara Bazar in Kolkata.

The Governor said that Dr. Pathak deserves well the award named after the great saint, Swami Vivekanand, as his organization has travelled from Sulabh to Sulabh International Social Service Organisation and is still growing fast. Dr. Pathak’s activities, he said, are not merely limited to toilet and sanitation. He established the Sulabh Hope Foundation which is looking after hundreds of windows living in the Ashrams at Vrindavan and Varanasi who are now living happily after their earlier days of destitution and neglect. “Ever since the widows came to see me in Kolkata on last Dashahara Day, I have been deeply concerned about the despicable traditions of our society, whose betterment does not take place with strikes and protests on roads. Change happens with positive ideas being passed over from one person to the other”, Hon’ble Mr. Tripathy said, and added that he felt honoured to participate in the function.

Mr. Sajjan Kumar Tulsian, eminent social worker, delivering the welcome speech said India can be made a clean nation on the basis of the sanitary drive started through the Sulabh toilet. Sulabh can be a significant link in the drive for a clean India initiated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi.

While receiving the award Dr. Pathak said,

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“I am greatly honoured to receive the Swami Vivekanand Sewa Sammaan in the 72nd year of my life, more so, since it was bestowed upon me by the Hon’ble Governor, Mr. Keshari Nath Tripathy.” Recollecting his earlier days Dr. Pathak said, “We belonged to a respectable family, but later landed in dire conditions. Still when someone came to my mother for help, she used to borrow money from a neighbour and give it to the needy. She never wanted to deny help if someone seeks it. When I talked of scavenging and toilets, people around me including my father-in-law disliked it. But I pursued my mission of helping them for more than four decades now. I am not a political person, but I really appreciated the mention about the urgent need for sanitation and toilets by our Prime Minister in his address from the Red Fort on the Independence Day. Now people at large are not reluctant to talk of such issues; even Bill Gates is concerned about the lack of sanitation and toilets.”

Dr. Pathak also spoke on the Sulabh technology of two-pit toilets which are costeffective, affordable and do not need scavenging.

The sewer system which was initiated in our country in Kolkata in the year 1870, has covered only 160 towns yet. Dr. Pathak showed a jar of water from a public toilet treated and cleaned through Sulabh effluent treatment technology, which can be safely released in any water body. He also spoke about the Sulabh Drinking Water Centre making clean water costing 50 paise per litre which was started at Madhusudan Kati in Kolkata.

Pointing to Mrs. Usha Chaumar and Mrs. Guddi Athwal, who were present at the function, Dr. Pathak said that in earlier days, they worked as scavengers but are now liberated and trained in various self-earning vocations. Two widows from Vrindavan and Varanasi were also present at the function.

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Award

Lord Baden Powel Award for Dr. Pathak with others Janak Singh

A group of youngsters want to do great things in life leaving behind their mother to bide her time. A sage advises the youngsters that their mission to shine in life would never be complete until and unless they took proper care of their mother

Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of the Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement, was the proud recipient of the Lord Baden Powel Award-2015 along with a group of eminent intellectuals, writers, poets, artistes, teachers, and social workers on February 22 at the Ghalib Auditorium, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, New Delhi.

The awards instituted by the Scouts and Guides Organisation were presented during the World Scouts Day celebration by the chief guest, Hon’ble Subodh Kant Sahay, former Minister of State in the Union Home Ministry.

The winners were selected by Mr. Raj K.P. Sinha, National Commissioner for India, Scouts and Guides Organisation, New Delhi.

The award ceremony was marked by lighting of the traditional lamp with the chief guest calling the winners one by one.

They made brief speeches and posed for photographs. The unique feature of the function was singing of the National Anthem by several sightless girls. One of the award winners was a sightless scholar, escorted to the dais by his daughter. The highlight of the

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event was an impressive gymnastic feat by half a dozen scouts, including a girl, jigging and jagging on the stage with full-throated pledges to serve humanity and, if called upon, to shoot at sight the nation’s enemies.

Receiving the award Dr. Pathak expressed his gratitude to the organization for conferring on him the award. He recalled a fable in which a group of youngsters want to do great things in life leaving behind their mother to bide her time. A sage advises the youngsters that their mission to shine in life would never be complete until and unless they took proper care of their mother. Dr Pathak stressed the point that the youngsters’ care for their mother was a very important duty.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Subodh Kant Sahay congratulated all the winners and said the Scouts and Guides Organization founded by Lord Baden Powel in 1907 is an exceptionally good and dedicated body. He said he was always impressed by the way youngsters were trained to render service to whoever is in need, during war or peace. They work selflessly.

The teachings of Lord Baden Powel inspire them to be unique service-oriented group.

Dr. Kavita Raizada, who was also among the recipients of the award for being a good poet, anchored the entire programme with witty and humorous remarks in her repertoire.

She recited one of her favourite compositions describing the death of India’s former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent where he had gone for parleys with Gen Ayub Khan of Pakistan.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Focus

Nostalgic Holi for Varanasi widows at Assi Ghat Sulabh Bureau

orgetting the agony and suffering of their past life, widows of Varanasi played Holi with great zeal for the first time at the famous Assi Ghat on February 20 just as their counterparts had done in Vrindavan last year.

Breaking the age-old barriers, they all joined in frenzied dance to the rhythm of drums, showered flower petals and smeared ‘gulal’ on each other’s face at Assi Ghat, on the bank of the river Ganga, as a prelude to the actual festival in March. It turned out to be a memorable day for the widows of the temple town who live far away from their families in different Ashrams and old- age homes.

The Sulabh International Founder, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, organised the celebration, specially for the widows. Dr. Pathak formally inaugurated the boating operations from the Assi Ghat by welcoming the widows

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from the five Ashrams –Birla Widow Home, Nepali Ashram, Durga Kund Ashram and the two widow homes of Sarnath – to celebrate the ‘Vasantotsava’. At around 11:00 a.m. on February 20, Dr. Pathak and Varanasi Mayor Ram Gopal Mohle received the widows who are being looked after by Sulabh International, which also takes care of their health and daily requirements.

Dr. Pathak showered marigold petals on the widows clad in white sarees. The widows also joined the fun and frolic and showered gulal and rose petals greeting one another and danced to Holi tunes. “Today, our colourless life has become colourful. I am extremely happy,” said Naurangi Devi, an elderly widow who lives in an old age home in the Sarnath area.

The unique celebration was organised for the first time in Varanasi by Sulabh

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Focus

International which takes care of thousands of widows in Varanasi, Vrindavan and Uttarakhand. Sulabh had organised Holi for the widows of Vrindavan during the past two years which was seen as a path-breaking initiative to break the centuries-old social system that forbids widows from participating in such celebrations. All the widows from Birla Ashram, Durga Kund, Nepali ashram and two homes in Sarnath on the city outskirts joined the ‘Vasantotsava’ and Dr. Pathak danced with them to the beat of dholak and majeera. “It is

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one of the happiest days in my life. I have no words to express my feelings,” remarked Dr. Pathak.

Chandrakali of Durga Kund old-age home and Namona Gautam of Lalita Ghat Ashram were virtually shedding tears of joy. “We had almost forgotten such celebrations. The day is nostalgic and memorable for us as it has added colour to our lives,” said another widow. “It is unbelievable that such a joyful moment can return to our lives,” said a widow, who had lots of memories to share with others.

Sulabh has played a major role in cleaning the Assi Ghat and to restore its past glory soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Clean India Campaign. During a visit to Varanasi a few months back, the Prime Minister called upon voluntary organizations and others to come forward and help restore the old glory of the Ghats in the temple town.

The silt that had accumulated at the Ghat for years has now been removed at the initiative of Sulabh.

After the Supreme Court expressed grave anguish over the appalling conditions in which the widows lived uncared in Vrindavan, Sulabh adopted around 1,000 widows living in various Ashrams. “We will continue our nationwide campaign for the welfare of the widows and improve their conditions to bring them into the mainstream, besides ensuring their social assimilation.” Dr. Pathak said.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Seminar

Sant Ravidas more relevant today Sulabh Bureau

ant Guru Ravidas, one of the direct disciples of Guru Ramananda, was a mystic of the Bhakti movement of the 15th century. He was a socio-religious reformer, thinker, theosophist, humanist, poet, traveller, pacifist and spiritual figure.

In honour of the Sant a two-day seminar was held in Jawaharlal Nehru University under the aegis of the Centre for Indian Languages on February 23 and 24.

The seminar was attended by several litterateurs, thinkers and linguists and the auditorium was fully packed with students and others.

Eminent dignitaries were called in to the dais by Mr. Rajesh Paswan, Associate Professor, JNU, who gave a short welcome speech.

Among them were Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder, Sulabh International, Mr. Prasenjit Sen, Procter-2, JNU, Mr. T.V. Kattimani, Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Chandrabhan Prasad, a scholar, Mr. Vivek Kumar, sociologist, JNU, Mr. Chauthi Ram Yadav, former Head of the Department of Hindi, BHU, Mr. Sunil Sardar, Founder, Truthseekers International, New Delhi, and Dr. Suman Chahar, Chairman, International Academy for Environmental Sanitation and Health Engineering. All of them were honoured with bouquet by Prof. Vaishna Narang, Dean, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, JNU. Dr. Pathak, who was the chief guest, said he was grateful to be part of the seminar as he

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Sant Guru Ravidas was of the view that one’s future lies on Karmas (doings) rather than one’s caste or creed At Sulabh we are also sharing the Sant’s views and are working to liberate all those who are feeling the heat of casteism himself is against all types of discriminations in society. He said that Sant Guru Ravidas was of the view that one’s future lies on Karmas (doings) rather than one’s caste or creed “At Sulabh we are also sharing the Sant’s views and are working to liberate all those who are feeling the heat of casteism”, he said. With the help of slides he told the audience that in Arrah, Bihar, he cleaned and carried the excreta to realise himself the pain and sufferings of the scavengers.

Dr. Pathak quoted John F. Kennedy by saying, “Don’t ask what your country has done for you, but ask what you have done for the country”. So we have to make India free from all types of discriminations. Dr. Pathak pointed out the differences between Gandhiji and Dr. Ambedkar but both of them, he said, were right in their own way. Sulabh has chosen the ideologies of both Gandhiji and Dr. Ambedkar.

Dr. Pathak further said that the condition of sanitation was very critical when he started his campaign.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

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Seminar

“Don’t ask what your country has done for you, but ask what you have done for the country”. So we have to make India free from all types of discriminations Dr. Pathak also told the audience that he took the former scavengers to temples and 5-star hotels to bring them into the mainstream of society. He arranged common dining place where people from both high class society and scavengers broke their bread together.

Mr. Rajesh Paswan commented that a Sulabh public toilet is like pilgrim centre visited by people from all sections of the society.

Prof Vaishna Narang said, although literature is not her subject she attended the seminar because she believed that Sant Ravidas was a saint in real sense whose ideologies need to be emulated. She said she was impressed

by John Stuart Mill who has said beautiful things on liberty. She said, ‘no society can be free as long as liberties are not respected’. She welcomed the initiative taken by Mr. Paswan to organize the seminar on Sant Ravidas at the university level.

Mr. Kattimani said that one should never be ashamed of one’s caste as Ravidas used to say: ‘Yes I am a Chamar but I am better than you.”

This speaks well that he was proud of his caste.

Mr. Chandrabhan Prasad, a well-known scholar, quoted Einstein saying that it is easier to break atom than social customs, while sociologist Prof. Vivek Kumar stated that 41 verses of Sant Ravidas have a prominent place in the Guru Granth Sahab.

Mr. Chandi Ram Yadav, who was greatly applauded by the audience, made a comparative study of Tulsidas and Ravidas and said the

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society flourishes in a better way through the teachings of Ravidas.

Mr. Sunil Sardar, who founded Truthseekers International, sang the melodious song of Shailendra ‘Aa chal ke tujhe, main le ke chalun….’ He added to the song a meaningful line: ‘A person dies as soon as his dreams die’.

Ms. Usha Chaumar, Ms. Laxmi Nanda, Ms. Dolly and Ms. Puja Changra, former scavengers who were liberated and rehabilitated

by Sulabh International, were the star attraction at the seminar.

Ms. Usha Chaumar told the audience that she was married at the age of 14 and was asked to go for scavenging in her in-laws’ house. In 2003, Dr. Pathak met her and asked her to leave that inhumane work and join the vocational training programme launched by Sulabh called Nai Disha. Since she joined Nai Disha her life has totally changed. She is now living a dignified life as a respectful citizen of the country.

Ms. Laxmi Nanda after joining Nai Disha learned reading and writing. She recited beautiful poems from her own collection, ‘Patan Se Utthan Ki Aur’, which depicted the pain a scavenger usually bears being an untouchable.

Dolly, quite young and beautiful, said she too, got scavenging as a hereditary job but since she joined Nai Disha in 2008 her life has totally changed. She is double MA and B.Ed. now.

Ms. Puja Changra spoke about her childhood days when she was illtreated by the children of the upper class during ‘Kumari Puja’ at the school Principal’s residence on the occasion of the Navaratri Festival. Dr. Pathak brought her into the mainstream of the society to lead a respectable life.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

FOCUS

Gift of Sulabh to village-

Madhusudan Kati Sulabh Bureau

Availability of safe drinking water is a problem people have to face in many parts of our country. They depend on ponds, wells and such other sources for it. In certain places the water thus available is not fit for drinking as has been found to contain harmful elements like arsenic. Sulabh International Social Service Organisation has taken steps to ameliorate drinking water available in the area.

A function was organised at Madhusudan Kati on January 31, 2015 for laying the foundation Stone for construction of a Sulabh Public Toilet Complex. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder, Sulabh International Social Service Organisation laid foundation Stone on the occasion. For the facility of toilet to be made available to the villages who had none so far they were really in a jubilant mood, welcoming Dr. Pathak with garland and bouquet. Ladies of the village were literally in a mood of celebration blowing conches and singing. A ritualistic Poojan was performed after which the foundation stone was laid by Dr. Pathak.

The foundation laying ceremony was followed

by Dr. Pathak visiting the arrangement made by Sulabh in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation, Madhusudan Kati ‘Krishi Unnayan Samiti’. Speaking on the occasion Dr. Pathak said, now it is a matter of concern for all, our Prime Minister, Hon’ble Mr. Narendra Modi spoke of a clean India and construction of toilets from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the Independence Day. Bill Gates, the multi-billionaire has keen interest in provision of toilets in India, Sulabh has been concerned, said Dr. Pathak, with the problem of safe drinking water in the area. We came to know about French company 1001 Fontaines whom we did contact. They have developed a technique to clean such water and make it safe

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for drinking. With their assistance safe drinking water is being made available here now at a cost of 50 paise per litre. We are all for assisting the government if they take up a major project for the problem, Sulabh has taken the initiative and shown the way, others may follow suit. At present 2000 litres of clean drinking water is being made available to the villagers, we have four such projects in hand at present. Work is going on at Subhas gram in South 24 Paragana, the plants at Murshidabad, Mayapur and Madhusudan Kati are already working. We can make similar arrangements over Yamuna river in Delhi as well as Ganga in Varanasi, Sulabh has cleaned Assi Ghat thoroughly, the work was inspected and praised by our Prime Minister, when he visited Varanasi recently. Dr. Pathak expressed his thanks for Madhusudan Kati Unnayan Samiti for their helping hand.

A cultural programme was arranged on the occasion in which Dr. Pathak enthralled the villagers singing a song at the function. He along with Prof. K. J. Nath and Dr. Suman Chahar was duly honoured before the function concluded.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

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Seminar

Sanitation is Key to

Good Environment A.K. Sengupta

uring the last six and a half decade we have not been as active as was needed in the field of health and hygiene. We have not prioritised public health engineering due to which the condition of the nation has become so critical that the drinking water resources have become contaminated with faecal matter resulting in negative development in mental and physical growth of children. It is a failure that holds back the development of people and the nation.

To bring the subject of public health and hygiene and environmental sanitation into limelight, the Institute of Public Health Engineers, India (IPHE), Delhi regional centre, and Sulabh International Social Service Organisation organised a two-day seminar on ‘National Consultation on Renewed Agenda on Sanitation’ on February 13-14 at SCOPE Complex, New Delhi.

A number of engineers working in the Public Health departments, several litterateurs, professors, social reformers, thinkers, and bureaucrats attended and participated in the seminar.

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The venue is situated in the lush green area of South Delhi near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium that hosts several national and international sport events.

As you enter the SCOPE Complex first you can see a beautiful metallic statue of Mahatma Gandhi who was greatly concerned about public health and environment with his message ‘Sanitation is more important than political freedom’.

Mr. A.K. Sengupta, Director, International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public Health, welcomed the delegates.

He said the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, had on August 15 called for a Clean India Campaign. Although this has proved effective, to start with, we still need millions of motivators as well as result-oriented people who can lead India to a designated goal by 2019. Mr. Sengupta invited Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, social scientist and reformer and Founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, Mr. Vinay Shankar, former Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, Mr. S.S. Meenakshi Sundaram, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development and Mr. Dinesh Chandra, Chairman, IPHE, Delhi Chapter on the stage for the inaugural session. A bouquet was presented to all the dignitaries who lighted the ceremonial lamp to start the function.

Dr. K.J. Nath, Chairman, IPHE India, spoke on the works done by IPHE India so far and stressed upon the need for involvement of NGOs in public health works. He added that the basic motive is to promote the issue of public health through sanitation and IPHE has a key role to play in this sector. On the one hand we are on the path of becoming a

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

world power and on the other we hold one of the largest number of people going for open defecation. Dr. Nath mentioned Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak as the key supporter of IPHE. Dr. Pathak speaking on this occasion said that the seminar was to discuss how India can achieve the goal of sanitation by 2019 as declared by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. He informed the audience that the first sewer system in India was installed in Calcutta in 1870 but since then in the span of 145 years only 160 out of 7,933 towns have been provided with sewer system in India. This is because the installation of this system is costly.

He stressed upon the need for technology by giving the example of London where in 1860 horse-carts were used for local commuting which gave birth to the problem of horsedung spread over the roads and it blocked the drainage system of London but by 1907 these horse-carts were replaced by automobiles, and the problem got sorted out. So, to achieve the MDG we need new technologies and for that we are totally dependent on engineers.

He added that the technology should be such that it is acceptable to people culturally and economically.

Dr. Pathak told the audience amidst loud cheers the story of WC (Water Closet). An English lady once wrote to a school headmaster if he could arrange a place of stay for her which had W.C. as she wished to visit India.

The teacher in consultation with a friend of his interpreted the meaning of W.C. as Wayside Chapel. He replied that there was a W.C. which was very popular and he would take the lady there himself. No wonder, she decided not to visit at all.

He also informed the audience that Sulabh’s two-pit technology has been lauded by BBC Horizons as one of the five best technologies ever invented. Dr. Pathak concluded quoting Mahatma Gandhi that ‘an ounce of action is more important than tons of knowledge’.

On the second day of the seminar Ms. Payden, a representative of WHO, gave her power point presentation on critical condition of sanitation in South-East Asia region. She said most of the poor families she focused on had no sanitation. She also talked of negligence on the sanitation front at health centres and schools. She commended the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s call for ending open defecation in

The technology should be such that it is acceptable to people culturally and economically India by 2019 whereas the MDG goal for ending this practice in the world is by 2030.

The presentations of Mr. Asit Nema, Hony.

Secretary, IPHE, were very much applauded.

His presentation in the two-day seminar was quite informative.

Mr. Sunil Dhole, an IITian from Kanpur, representing Techno Orbital Advanced Materials Pvt. Ltd, said that he has developed a

technology that can make raw water drinkable in a very convenient way and it does not need any electricity. He said his technology has a capacity of filtering 2000 litres in one hour at a cost of just 0.4 paise per litre.

Mr. Pankaj Jain, former Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, chairing the valedictory session said the most important fact that we have to take care of is the disposal of liquid and solid human waste. He mentioned certain issues that we should not ignore. These were: • The cultural and historical issues • The technology issues • Issue of clean rivers • Clean drinking water as there is problem of fluorine and arsenic in it.

Mr. Pankaj Jain advocated the two-pit technology developed by Sulabh International.

He said that septic tanks are no solution for ending manual scavenging. Bio-toilets developed by DRDO can be a solution but the high cost is a big hurdle, he added.

The two-day programme concluded with a vote of thanks moved by Mr. R. Mehrotra, Vice-President, IPHE Delhi Chapter.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

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Workshop

INDOVATION

Key to Growth Sulabh Bureau

Hon’ble Mr. Sudarshan Bhagat, Union Minister of State for Rural Development being shown by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak a bottle of Sulabh drinking water made available at 50 paise a litre.

The Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has taken the initiative for providing a common platform to enable interaction between different government departments, World Bank representatives, Corporates, MNCs, Entrepreneurs, Innovators and other stakeholders. on’ble Mr. Sudarshan Bhagat, Union Minister of State for Rural Development (MoRD), inaugurated an Exhibitioncum-Workshop on Technology for Water Quality & Sanitation in Rural Areas at Hotel Radisson Blu, Dwarka, New Delhi on January 23. The event was organized by the Ministry to showcase the technologies and innovations for practical usage with special emphasis on the objectives envisaged under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) – Mrs. Vijaylaxmi Joshi, Secretary, MDWS; Mr. Saraswati Prasad, Joint Secretary (SBM), and Mr. Satyabrata Sahu, Joint Secretary (Water) – and Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of Sulabh, were the participants in the workshop.

In his inaugural address the Hon’ble Minister of State for Rural Development stressed the importance of technology on Water Quality (WQ) and appreciated the

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initiative of the Ministry in respect of display of relevant technologies in solving water quality problems in states.

The Secretary, MDWS asked the states to ascertain the relevance and cost-effectiveness of the technologies and to identify indigenous technologies as well and declared that every four months such workshop-cum-exhibition would be organized. The Joint Secretary (SBM) and the Joint Secretary (Water) also spoke on the occasion stating that this has been a very enlightening and enriching experience for all the participants to get to know about the latest developments and technologies in the drinking water and sanitation segments.

Portable Solar-Powered RO Purifiers on display were one of the important innovations appreciated by all the delegates. AQUAPOT represented by Mr. B.M. Balakrishna and Mr. Mohammed Naser Azeez presented this innovation.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Talk

IIT–Talk on Social Entrepreneurship Pramod Makkad

IIT Delhi is a premier institution in the field of education and technology in India. Students passing out of this prestigious academy of technological learning have been known for making their mark as engineers and technologists.

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oard for students’ welfare constituted in the Institute is a wellknown entity organizing inspiring and motivating programmes for the

students.

‘Talk on Social Entrepreneurship’ was organised at the Dogra Hall in the IIT Campus on February 4, 2015 by the Board for students’ welfare. Persons who have made significant contribution in various fields were the distinguished invitees to the function.

They included Mr. Arvind Singh, Founder and Executive Director ‘Nidan’, Mr. Anup Kaul, Director, Basix Academy for Building Lifelong Employability, Ms. Abhilasha Sinha, Manager, Avanti Learning Centre and Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder, Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement.

The programme was conducted by Mr. Shubham Bharadwaj who said, for any nation to make a mark in the field of development and progress it is essential that the citizens, non-governmental organizations, local bodies and administration all work in unison. India has problems like poverty, corruption, lack of education which have been tarnishing the image of the country as well as affecting the lives of common man adversely. Attempts are being made on all fronts to handle them.

Mr. Bharadwaj invited Mr. Anup Kaul, Director, Basix Academy for Building Lifelong Employability for his address.

Mr. Anup Kaul, started with the example of Mr. Vijay Mahajan, an ex-IITian who is the Founder of the Academy, its Chief Executive

as well as a social entrepreneurship. The Academy was established in the year 1996; it is dedicated to the alleviation and improvement of the lives of rural families, especially ladies through financial services. Academy with its central office located in Hyderabad is active in 17 States of the country and is serving 35 lakh people or customers. Mr. Mahajan is also the Founder of another non-governmental organisation named ‘Pradaan’. He was named as one of the 20 leading social reformers of India by Financial Express.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak said, more than two and a half billion people in the world do not have sanitary facility.

When he started his active role in the field of sanitation in the year 1968, he had to face lot of hardship and resistance. As a young boy he touched a called untouchable lady for which he had to undergo a purification ritual by drinking

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

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Talk

cow’s urine and water from river Ganga. Dr. Pathak quoted Mahatma Gandhi who said, Indians have readily faced the bullets of the Britishers but refused to dine with a so-called untouchable. Dr. Pathak further added, he is not an engineer or a scientist but the technology that he innovated and developed has changed the scenario of sanitation in the country.

He has, thus, learnt that mere acquisition of knowledge is no good, what matters is the right use of one’s mind. India is a developing country, the system of sewerage, being a costly technique will not solve our problem.

Dr. Pathak narrated an interesting story of a British lady who wanted to visit India. She wrote to a school headmaster if he could find a place for her stay that had a W.C. The teacher in consultation with his friend took the W.C. to mean way side chapel rather than a water closet. He replied that there was a popular W.C. where he would love to take the lady himself.

No wonder she never came.

Dr. Pathak said, Sulabh introduced the system of maintenance of public toilets on pay and use basis, more than 8,500 such toilets have been built and are being maintained by Sulabh. The two-pit compost toilet Sulabh technology has been named as one of the five greatest inventions of the world by BBC Horizons. Sulabh has rehabilitated thousands of former manual scavengers, got them trained in vocations like preparing eatables, sewing and embroidery along with beauty care. Sulabh Public School has been providing free education for their children along with others. Sulabh has also developed the technology to clean water of arsenic and other such poisonous elements and

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Mere acquisition of knowledge is no good, what matters is the right use of one’s mind provide drinking water at a cost of 50 paise per litre.

Mr. Arvind Singh, Founder of ‘Nidan’ spoke about the work of his organisation for the welfare of street vendors along with other social activities. It works to educate the vendors on keeping their products clean and unpolluted.

Food festivals are also organised occasionally.

The organisation has been recognised and honoured by CII. It is functional in 9 States and hopes to cover all the States by 2017 covering more than 20 thousand vendors.

Ms. Abhilasha Sinha, an alumnus of IIT Delhi said, she works with people who are dedicated to serve students from low-income families who study in high schools with mathematics and science. Her organisation has centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur and Chennai.

It has agreements with certain coaching institutes where the students referred by her organisation are given free coaching.

The speech session was followed by a question-answer interaction. In reply to one of the queries Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak said, one has to pay attention to 9 points for success in social work, honesty, integrity, ethics, morality, vision, mission, commitment, compatibility and efficiency.

Mr. Shubham Bharadwaj thanked the esteemed participants at the end of the programme for having shared their experiences and knowledge with the students of the IIT.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

CONFERENCE

Museologists’ Meet in Guwahati Bageshwar Jha

he three-day annual conference of the Museum’s Association of India (MAI) was organized in collaboration with the Assam State Museum, Guwahati, at its auditorium from January 29, 2015 with Mrs. Bismita Gogoi, Assam’s Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs, as the chief guest.

The occasion was also significant as the year happens to be the Platinum Jubilee of the State Museum.

The conference was attended by 72 delegates from different museums of the country. After lighting the inaugural lamp by the dignitaries, Mr. Y.S. Winglengton, Director of the host museum, welcomed the delegates.

Since the region was rich in artefacts, he said that the State Museum needed to go tech and hoped that the Rs. 3 crore donated by the Centre would be properly used to modernize the same. Dr. P.K. Sharma, President of MAI, gave a brief account of the performance of the Association for the past one year. He said that the Life Time Award to eminent museologist was started in 2010 which now stood widened to include even museology savants who are no more. Accordingly, it was decided to give a posthumous award to late Dr. G.N. Pant, former Director of the National Museum. Mrs. Pant would receive the award at a function in New Delhi shortly.

The chief guest released the 68th edition of the Mai Brochure as well as a similar publication of the host museum. Mr. Shantanu Thakur, IAS, regretted that the Hindu and Muslim rulers of the region documented only their own achievements, including their victories, but did not do anything substantial to preserve the heritages and ancient artefacts so that the history of the area could be constructed. The chief guest traced the history

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of undivided Assam, showing how it figured prominently even during the Mahabharata period. She assured the museum fraternity to extend all possible help from the State Government so that the museum movement could not suffer. She also inaugurated the Textile Section of the NE Gallery and an exhibition on the Gond Ramayana Paintings in the Annexe Building.

In the afternoon session of the first day, the keynote address was delivered by Dr. A.K. Das, former Director of the National Museum Institute. Dr. R.D. Choudhary, former DirectorGeneral, National Museum, was present. Dr Das, while speaking on regional museums, referred to half a dozen museums, started by non-museum persons, which are doing yeoman’s service in the field. While giving this list, he referred to the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, founded by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak in 1992. This experiment has come out as an eye-opener to the museum world showing how a museum could be instrumental in the causes of sanitation and social reforms.

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Assam State Museum

CONFERENCE

The author making his presentation

Dr. Das added that at present there are some 30,000 museums in the world including 15,000 in Europe alone. He said that India having around 700 museums should give necessary tilts to their performance so that the society at large could be benefited. At the end, the lecture was followed by a lively questionanswer session.

In the post-lunch time, the first academic session was held which was presided over by Dr. R.D. Choudhary. As many as seven papers were read by scholars, including the author, Curator, Sulabh International Museum of Toilets. His paper, ‘Next Door Museums’, emphasized the need of expanding the outreach of museums not only by diversifying their activities but also by founding regional museums in all distant geographical regions of the country. In this connection he referred to such museums of Singapore, the USA, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and India which were creating the desired appeal in the forgotten communities of those regions. Other speakers in this session were Dr. Supreo Chanda of Calcutta, Dr. Paras Mani Datta of Calcutta,

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Mr. Prateek Ghosh of the Gandhi Memorial Museum, Barrackpore and Ishani Chatterjee from North-East.

On the second day (January 30) the prelunch academic session was held with the author in the chair in which 13 scholars gave their presentations. These papers were so variegated that hardly any topic on the subject was left untouched. The main presenters were Anindita Kundu Saha (West Bengal), Yogendra BS (Mysore), Ramesh Lal (Delhi), Sudesna Das (Natural History Museum), Sayani Ghosh, Falguni Pal, Puspa Das, Mausumi Purkait, Juthika Biswas (all from West Bengal), Shruti Das (Chhota Udaipur) and Apurva Singh (Baroda).

The afternoon academic session was chaired by Dr. A.K. Das, when seven papers were presented. The speakers included Dhruv Prasad Soni (Delhi), Mrs. Indrani Bhattacharya (Calcutta Varsity), G.N. Indresha (Bhubneswar), Mrs. Enakshi Chattopadhyay (West Bengal), Mrs. Amrita Dey Saha, Gaurav/Ashish Singh and Dr. Anand Burdhan. Dr. Burdhan’s scholarly presentation was well appreciated by the participants.

The concluding part thereafter was the business session. It was the general body meeting of the Association with Dr. Sharma in Chair. There was a proposal to revive the old system of associate membership so that the students, not monetarily strong, could take part in prestigious functions of the museum world. There was a consensus in favour of this suggestion.

On the last day (January 31), the morning session was reserved for the annual Motichand Memorial Lecture, which was delivered by Mr. Kusum Kumar Mahanta, Prachar Sachiv, Axom Satra Mahasabha. He spoke in detail on the multi-faceted personality of Mahapurush Srimant Sankardev (1449-1568) and his contributions in the field of sainthood, poetry, playwright, socio-religious reforms and role in the cultural field of Assam.

The delegates were taken to Alipukuri village in Naugaon district which is the birthplace of Sankardev. The villagers gave them a ceremonial reception by presenting a cultural programme, felicitating the senior museologists with Assamese embroidered traditional scarfs and lunch.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

FOCUS

Planning Commission and Niti Aayog Last socialist bastion falls S.P. Singh

Thomas Jefferson talks of changing old ideas and values as often as you change old shirts. Or, the poor will revolt and become restless. All social revolutions, including French, British and Russian, happened because the monarchs did not change. No wonder, they lost their crowns and heads both. ll ideas are relevant only in the context of times, specially economic ideas, which determine the system of governance. In fact, economic ideas cannot be seen apart from the world they seek to interpret. During the last one hundred years, the role of agriculture has been declining, after industrialisation which began in Britain in late 18th century and 19th century.

Industrialisation brought about a massive use of machinery, beginning with Spinning Jenny, a multi-spindle spinning-frame invented in 1764

by James Hargreaves in Lancashire, England.

Cotton sparked off the Industrial Revolution and the Spinning Jenny, which Hargreaves named after his daughter, was central to the Industrial Revolution.

India was the centre of cotton trade which flourished in the Indus Valley even in 3000 BC; Herodotus admired its quality. Spinning and weaving cotton were introduced to Europe

by Muslim invaders in the 10th century. In India cotton weaving was a cottage industry, so successful that it established a substantial market in Britain. During the colonial days the dominant economic idea was mercantilism.

This was a monopoly trading system and countries in Africa and Asia were colonized and people were exploited by Europeans to earn money.

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Mercantilism, however, was later rejected

by Adam Smith (1723-90) who talked of free market and David Ricardo (1772-1823) who launched free trade movement in London which was then central to world trade in 18th and 19th century. Finally, Karl Marx attacked the capitalist power and said “property is theft�. And later came John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) who evolved an idea of state intervention, a response to the unrelenting disaster of the Great Depression.

War Fuelled Socialism

After the World War-II, people were disillusioned with Capitalism which caused miseries in the world. The October Revolution in 1919 produced an alternative economic model. Hence, after the War, almost the entire Third World countries became socialist.

Prof. Harold Laski, who was the teacher of Jawaharlal Nehru, and most other distinguished scholars, including Bernard Shaw and Eric Hobsbawin, were socialists. Socialism was the post-war wave. Greatly impressed by the Soviet planning system, Jawaharlal Nehru had set up the Planning Commission in 1950 to steer the nation's economic destiny. The Deputy Chairman of the Commission has often been a political stalwart holding the rank of a Cabinet Minister. Mr. Gulzarilal Nanda, Mr.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

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FOCUS

V.T. Krishnamachari, Mr. C. Subramaniam, Mr. P.N. Haksar, Mr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Mr. K.C. Pant, Mr. Jaswant Singh, Mr. Madhu Dandavate, Mr. Mohan Dharia and Mr. R.K. Hegde have held that position. The last Deputy Chairman was Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

India had launched the first Five-year Plan in 1951 and two subsequent Five-Year-Plans were formulated till 1965, when there was a

One of its objectives is “to evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies, with the active involvement of states in the light of national objectives” break because of the Indo-Pakistan Conflict.

Two successive years of drought, devaluation of the currency, a general rise in prices and erosion of resources disrupted the planning process and after three Annual Plans between 1966 and 1969, the fourth Five-Year-Plan was started in 1969.The eighth Plan could not take off in 1990 due to the fast changing political situation at the Centre and the years 1990-91 and 1991-92 had Annual Plans. The eighth Plan was finally launched in 1992 after the initiation of structural adjustment policies.

The Modi Government has replaced the Planning Commission with a new institution named NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). The institution will serve as ‘Think Tank’ of the government—a directional and policy dynamo. NITI Aayog will provide governments at the Central and State levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy. This includes matters of national and international import on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other nations, infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support. The once Planning Commission is now a consultation forum.

A long Press note has been issued to explain the reasons why the 64-year-old Planning Commission has been abolished. The fact is that socialism as an idea which ruled from 1919 to 1989, when the Soviet Union and also all the East European Communist 28

countries became free, has not achieved much in practice. This idea, which remained relevant for 64 years, is now appraised afresh. Hence, the Planning Commission has been dismantled.

A Think Tank

The Aayog states that one of its objectives is “to evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies, with the active involvement of states in the light of national objectives”. This implies that the Aayog, acting as think tank for government, will develop a long-term vision and advise on the workings of various ministries, departments and also of state governments.

The resolution goes on to lay down 13 objectives in all for Niti Aayog. These range from fostering cooperative federalism to developing mechanisms for preparing credible plans at the village level, ensuring that national security concerns are taken on board in development policies, creating a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system, serving as a platform for coordinating inter-departmental issues, and serving as a “repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development”. The Aayog will surely have to evolve its own priorities from this long list, as its rules of business are prepared.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a doer not a theorist or a starry-eyed visionary. He has taken new initiatives such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India, Make in India, FDI in railways, piloting a scheme for cash transfers in lieu of cooking gas subsidy, and rolling out the process of self-certification. This list can actually be further expanded. This may not be the last. In which case, ideas must change.

In sum, the old idea has failed and a new idea (NITI Aayog) is being evolved. As the world changes, so do the ideas. Thomas Jefferson says: change old ideas as often as you change old shirts. You cannot make one idea and hope to serve people all time. Technology, communication, globalisation and everything else has changed the world. How can ideas remain fixed and unchanged? Hence, the death of the Planning Commission and birth of NITI Aayog.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

WORKSHOP

Workshop on Swachh Bharat Mission Sulabh Bureau

workshop was organised at Capital Hotel, Bengaluru on February 20, 2015 to explore various options to establish individual, community and public toilets in each of the 4004 notified towns in the country. This was the first of a series of such workshops to be held in various states. It was inaugurated by Hon’ble Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Urban Development Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation & Parliamentary Affairs, who was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr. Vinay Kumar Sorake, Hon’ble Minister for Urban Development, Government of Karnataka, Mr. Ramalinga Reddy Hon’ble Minister for Transport, Government of Karnataka, Mr. Qamarul Islam Hon’ble Minister for Municipalities and Local bodies, Mrs. Manjula IAS, Director of Municipal Administration and Corporation Commissioners, Chief Officers and other dignitaries attending the workshop.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Naidu said that Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has to involve all people, who have to come together.

Under Urban part of SBM, 4004 towns would be covered. The function was attended by Municipal Commissioners and Chairmen from Karnataka. The minister indicated that “Sulabh has done a wonderful job over the years” and the purpose of the workshop was to explore various possibilities for having partnerships.

Kannada version of ‘SBM – Guidelines for Urban Areas’ of the Ministry of Urban Development was released, on this occasion.

It was indicated by the Ministry of Urban Development, that under SBM (Urban), 1.2 crore individual household toilets, 2.52 lakh public and 2.6 lakh community toilets have to be constructed by 2019.

For individual household toilets, the Central government would provide Rs 4,000

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Under SBM (Urban), 1.2 crore individual household toilets, 2.52 lakh public and 2.6 lakh community toilets have to be constructed by 2019

and State Rs 1,333, totaling Rs 5,333; rest is to be generated from other sources, and for Community / Public toilets Rs 65,000 per seat would be provided.

Sulabh on this occasion made a presentation about its achievements and capabilities. The fact was also related that Sulabh had entered into agreements with various government agencies in Karnataka on nomination basis, and that Sulabh would do all, to make the mission a success. This was widely appreciated, and the local representatives of Sulabh were introduced to the audience.

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Hon’ble Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister, Ministry of Urban Development addressing the gathering at the Workshop

HEALTH

Swine Flu 1N1 flu is also known as swine flu. It's called swine flu because in the past, the people who caught it had direct contact with pigs. That changed several years ago, when a new virus emerged that spread among people who hadn't been near pigs.

In 2009, H1N1 was spreading fast around the world, so the World Health Organization called it a pandemic.

It's important to protect yourself from getting it. Like seasonal flu, it can cause more serious health problems for some people. The best protection is to get a flu vaccine, or flu shot, every year. Swine flu is one of the viruses covered by such vaccine.

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Is It a Cold or Is It the Flu? Causes of Swine Flu

Swine flu is contagious, and it spreads in the same way as the seasonal flu. When people who have it cough or sneeze, they spray tiny drops of the virus into the air. If you come in contact with these drops or touch a surface (such as a 30

doorknob or sink) that an infected person has recently touched, you can catch H1N1 swine flu.

Despite the name, you can't catch swine flu from eating bacon, ham, or any other pork product.

Swine Flu Symptoms

People who have swine flu can be contagious one day before they have any symptoms, and as many as 7 days after they get sick. Kids can be contagious for as long as 10 days.

Most symptoms are the same as seasonal flu. They can include: • cough • fever • sore throat • stuffy or runny nose • body aches • headache • chills • fatigue Like seasonal flu, swine flu can lead to more serious complications, including pneumonia

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

and respiratory failure. And it can make conditions like diabetes or asthma worse. If you have symptoms like shortness of breath, severe vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, or confusion, call your doctor or 911 right away.

Tests for Swine Flu

It's hard to tell whether you have swine flu or seasonal flu, because most symptoms are the same. People with swine flu may be more likely to feel nauseous and throw up than people who have seasonal flu. But a lab test is the only way to know for sure. Even a rapid flu test you can get in your doctor's office won't tell you for sure.

To test for swine flu, your doctor takes a sample from your nose or throat. You may not need to be tested. The CDC says the people who need to be tested are those in the hospital or those at high risk for getting lifethreatening problems from the flu, such as: • Children under 5 years old • People 65 or older • Children and teens (under age 18) who are getting long-term aspirin therapy, and who might be at risk for Reye's syndrome after being infected with swine flu. Reye's syndrome is a life-threatening illness linked to aspirin use in children.

• Pregnant women • Adults and children who have chronic lung, heart, liver, blood, nervous system, neuromuscular, or metabolic problems • Adults and children who have suppressed immune systems (including those who take medications to suppress their immune systems or who have HIV) • People in nursing homes and other longterm care facilities

How Is Swine Flu Treated?

Some of the same antiviral drugs that are used to treat seasonal flu also work against H1N1 swine flu. Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) seem to work best, although some kinds of swine flu are resistant to Tamiflu.

These drugs can help you get over swine flu faster. They can also help keep it from being too severe. They work best when taken within 48 hours of the first flu symptoms, but they can help when taken later.

Antibiotics won't help, because flu is caused by a virus, not bacteria.

Over-the-counter pain remedies and cold and flu medications can help relieve aches, pains, and fever. Don't give aspirin to children under age 18 because of the risk for Reye’s syndrome. Check to make sure that over-the-counter cold medications do not have aspirin before giving them to children.

Vaccine for Swine Flu

The same flu vaccine that protects against seasonal flu also protects against the H1N1 swine flu strain. You can get it as a shot or as a nasal spray. Either way, it "teaches" your immune system to attack the real virus.

Besides a flu shot, there are other things you can do to stay healthy: • Wash your hands throughout the day with soap and water. Or use an alcoholbased hand sanitizer.

• Don't touch your eyes, nose, or mouth.

• Avoid people who are sick.

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SANITATION

Sharing Environmental Hygiene with Law Students Sulabh Bureau

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, known as a great environmentalist, humanist and social reformer of contemporary India, has stated that the environmental cleanliness and sanitation was dearest to the heart of Mahatma Gandhi who always proclaimed that ‘cleanliness is next only to godliness’. e was interacting with the young delegates who are studying law at the University School of Law and Legal Studies (USLLS), Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka in New Delhi on January 30, with regard to pressing environment issues related to create safe environment in South-East Asia.

As law and society go hand in hand, Dr. Pathak, being the pioneer in the field of environment and social sciences, shared his experiences with students to help them take up many research projects.

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On his arrival as a special invitee, Dr. Pathak was welcomed by Prof. Deepshika Agarwal, Associate Professor, IIT and Mr. M. Afzal Vani with a bouquet and a bonsai plant. He was introduced by Mr. Sakthivel.

Dr. Pathak, who had to leave for Kolkata for a conference, could not stay for long. However, with the help of power point slides he provided the audience a glimpse of Sulabh toilets, based upon two-pit pour-flush technology which he invented and innovated around 45 years ago. The PPT presentation also displayed the work done by him in the social sector, particularly help to the widows in Vrindavan and Varanasi to live respectfully and learn vocational occupations. The Sulabh vocational training centres and Sulabh Public School that were set up by Sulabh International mainly to help the marginalised society, displayed in the presentation gave a true picture of Dr. Pathak’s diversified vision. Another attraction of the PPT presentation was Sulabh International Museum of Toilets.

The audience were amazed to hear that Sulabh is providing arsenic-free drinking water at just 50 paise per litre in Kolkata.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Distinguished Visitors

IFS Trainees on Sulabh Campus Janak Singh

ith the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan led

by Hon’ble Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister occupying the centre stage in the country the symbol of cleanliness, Jharu, has come to acquire status.

Nowhere was it demonstrated more tellingly than during the procession led by 58 officer trainees from the Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi, all wielding brooms and sweeping the streets, starting from the Sulabh campus on the Palam-Dabri Road on February 21.

The IFS trainees were joined in their Swachh Bharat procession by the Sulabh Founder, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, and a large number of boys and girls of the Sulabh Public School. First, they held the brooms high like prized exhibits and then started sweeping the dirty road cluttered up with mud, animal dung,

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and wastes thrown carelessly on the street by shopkeepers and vendors plying their trade on the busy road.

Sweeping the road was the last engagement of the IFS trainees during their visit to the Sulabh Campus to see and understand firsthand the Sulabh technology that is now being mentioned all over the world as the only cheap and effective way for meeting the growing threat of environmental pollution being caused by over 2.5 billion people defecating in the open.

The young and intelligent trainees were surprised being welcomed on their arrival with flower petals and tilaks on their forehead by the erstwhile scavenger women of Alwar who are now part of the expanding Sulabh family. The welcome party led by Dr. Pathak himself also included widows from Vrindavan

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

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The IFS trainees visiting the Sulabh Vocational Training Centre (left) and being briefed about the Sulabh twopit pourflush toilet models (right)

Distinguished Visitors and Varanasi, who eagerly participate now in all Sulabh functions, ever since the Sulabh organisation has assumed responsibility for their maintenance and care.

Dr. Pathak conducted them around the various sections of Sulabh operations, starting from conversion of wastes from toilets into

The Sulabh technology helps the poor to have cheap toilets right on their doorsteps instead of going for open defecation and adding to pollution and water-borne numerous ailments

biogas and clean transparent water. They were all wonder-struck when Dr. Pathak held aloft a flask filled with transparent water retrieved from the sullage of the Sulabh public toilet outside the Sulabh Campus. Sulabh’s claims about biogas were not empty talk but the real fact became clear to them when one of the trainess lit a petromax lamp fed by biogas. Dr Pathak said this was the cheapest of heating methods for the poor in winter provided all the toilets were linked to the biogas technology perfected by Sulabh.

Visitors went around the toilet block, which explained how the Sulabh technology helps the poor to have cheap toilets right on their doorsteps instead of going for open defecation and adding to pollution and waterborne numerous ailments which are already taking a heavy toll of children every day. The visitors could not believe that the bulk of boys and girls they saw in the Sulabh Public School in neat white uniforms were from the families of the erstwhile scavengers.

Their visit to the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets was an eye-opener. Never 34

having seen before how people down the ages used to defecate, they were all appreciation for the Sulabh efforts for gathering such revealing exhibits under one roof. There were toilets of kings and queens and the general public, all an expression of their desire not to spread obnoxious odour or make their neighbourhood unclean by open defecation.

That the Sulabh technology was not publicity but meant business became evident to the visitors when Dr. Pathak handed some of them balls made of dry human excreta giving not even whiff of bad smell.

After taking them around the Sulabh

Campus, Dr. Pathak asked them sitting in the Sulabh auditorium to shoot questions or seek clarification of whatever doubts they had after seeing the operation of the Sulabh technology and benefits it was sharing with the downtrodden. Some of the trainees asked searching questions regarding his motivation for such a fantastic project he has done and accomplished in life. Dr. Pathak recalled the horrifying death of a boy, gored by a bull, in a public square and nobody coming to his rescue because he belonged to an untouchable family.

“This and many other appalling things I saw of discrimination against a section of our society all because they cleaned night-soil from our toilets prompted me to find a way to liberate this class and give them status equal to anybody else, which was the dream of Mahatma Gandhi.

This propelled me to work – and not shirk – to do something to save them. That in a nutshell is the story of Sulabh”. Even when Dr. Pathak had resumed his seat, the applause did not die down.

Mr. Arun Pathak, Chief Coordinator of Sulabh, and Mr. S.P. Singh also spoke on the occasion.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Distinguished Visitor

Hon'ble Pankaj Choudhary M.P. Visits Sulabh Sulabh Bureau

Pankaj Choudhary, Hon’ble Member of Parliament from Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh, was accorded a warm welcome

by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of Sulabh International, former scavengers led by Mrs. Usha Chaumar, President of Sulabh, and senior Sulabh functionaries at Sulabh Gram on February 5, 2015.

Mr.

was amazed to know that Sulabh is providing arsenic-free drinkable water to the residents of the nearby colony at just 50 paisa per litre, which is the cheapest in the world.

After briefing the visitors on the various activities of Sulabh they were taken to the Sulabh Prayer Hall where they were greeted with shawls, Tulsi Mala and chanting of the prayer ‘Aao Hum Mil Julke Banayen Sulabh

He was accompanied by former MLA from Paniyara, Mr. Gyanendra Singh, former District President, Mr. Samir Singh, the priests of Baba Vishwanath Mandir, Varanasi, Mr. Shashibhushan Tripathi, Mr. Daya Tiwari and Mr. Rakesh Tripathi.

Hon’ble Mr. Choudhary was taken to the Sulabh Public School where he met the children of scavenger families studying along with the children from the higher castes without any discrimination. He was also glad to see the museum of toilets that showcased the history of toilets since 2500 BC. He was shown the Sulabh two-pit technology, biogas plant and the Sulabh Effluent Treatment Plant, and

Sukhad Sansar…’ by Sulabh functionaries.

In his address Hon’ble Mr. Choudhary said that he has been using Sulabh toilets since childhood, but had not much idea about Sulabh’s other activities. “We in politics, serve the people and the country, whereas Dr. Pathak is rendering selfless multi-dimensional service to people at large, through construction of toilets, supply of cheap drinking water and education of children.

Dr. Pathak is thus trying to realise the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi”, he said. He also stressed the importance of NGO’s’ co-operation and support for the Prime Minister’s ‘Clean India Campaign’, which Sulabh has been extending for over four decades.

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Distinguished Visitor

Hon’ble Mayor of Varanasi Visits Sulabh Sulabh Bureau

on’ble Mr. Ram Gopal Mohale, Mayor, Municipal Corporation of Varanasi, was accorded a warm welcome by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak and other Sulabh functionaries on his arrival at the Sulabh Campus on February 14.

Mr. Mohale, who was curious to know about Sulabh activities, was taken to the Sulabh Prayer Hall where he addressed the workers

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of Sulabh, the liberated scavenger women from Alwar and Tonk (Rajasthan) and the students of the Sulabh Public School. Mr. Mohale said that he belongs to Varanasi which has a rich cultural heritage and is also the birthplace of Sant Kabir, Sant Ravi Das, Rani Laxmibai and Bhartendu Harishchandra. He said he needed the help of Sulabh to fulfil his dream of making Varanasi a clean city by the end of the year. He was all praise for the various activities of Sulabh, especially its recent of cleaning work the Assi Ghat on the bank of the Ganga.

Later, Mr. Mohale visited the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets. He applauded the collections that depicted the history of toilets since 2500 BC. He wrote in the Visitors’ Book, that his visit to museum was highly informative and was a unique experience.

Mr. Mohale has been very much concerned about environment issues, especially the condition of the Ganga, animal welfare and pollution in general. These matters have been a focal point of the Mayor’s policies and programme. He always wishes to meet people to discuss the challenges of sanitation, security and other issues concerning the common man of Varanasi.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Distinguished Visitor

Hon'ble Mr. Mohan Lal Gupta MLA on Sulabh Campus Anita Aggarwal

The Sulabh Founder, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, who knows the nitty-gritty of toilets like the palm of his hand for he has been tackling these problems for the past four decades is best suited to lead successfully Prime Minister, Hon’ble Mr. Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Campaign, says Mr. Mohan Lal Gupta, Rajasthan MLA. Mr. Gupta made this observation after going round the Sulabh Campus on January 30 and seeing for himself for the first time operation of Sulabh technology, right from the construction of toilets, to the safe disposal of human wastes without involvement of scavengers and without giving out any bad odour or smell.

Mr. Gupta was accorded very warm welcome on his arrival with the Sulabh Founder, Dr. Pathak garlanding and presenting a shawl of welcome. Mr. Gupta was pleasantly surprised to see long row of Alwar and Tonk liberated scavenging women holding bouquets in their hands to be presented to the hon’ble guest. A group of widows from Vrindavan was also on hand to accord Mr. Gupta heart-

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warming welcome. Both groups of women applied welcome sindoor on his forehead.

Mr. Gupta was surprised to see the transformation of erstwhile scavenging women into decent ladies sporting dabs of makeup on their faces and all gathered to cheer him up.

He wondered until yesterday these ladies were hated and repulsed and now they have virtually merged into the mainstream.

Having heard stories about the suffering of widows in Vrindavan, he could not believe that some of them he met at the Sulabh campus had absolutely no complaint or grievance and were participating in the activities of the Sulabh organisation wholeheartedly.

Mr. Gupta was pleasantly surprised to know about the Sulabh’s Two-pit Pour-Flush Toilet technology, invented and innovated by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak. He mentioned this in his speech in the Sulabh Auditorium when he was invited to give his impressions about Sulabh. Mr. Gupta said that he would surely go for implementing this technology in Rajasthan.

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Summit

Solving the Sanitation Riddle?

Rupak Roy Choudhury

Sanitation is a basic human right and should be included within the broader horizon of other rights like right to food or right to education

ndia takes up cudgels against the poor state of sanitation and hygiene. The Government of India has recently launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) that covers both rural and urban India. The Mission aims to make India a clean country by promoting sanitation in its widest sense. This means ensuring overall cleanliness, hygiene behaviour, water, toilets and their use. This is a formidable task and requires unstinted support from all quarters.

To this end, WaterAid and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the Ministry of Urban Development organized a three-day India WASH Summit from February 16 to 18, at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The first event of its kind, it brought together leaders, the private sector, government officials and NGOs working to make a Clean India a reality by 2019. The participants at the summit discussed ways to make this a reality in an expeditious and equitable manner.

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The summit was inaugurated by Hon’ble Mr. Choudhary Virendra Singh, Minister, Rural Development. The Minister said the solution to the problem of poor hygiene and sanitation in rural as well as urban India was “not only to introduce new technology” but also linked with the flexibility that all states must have in implementing the mission as well as the need to “ensure leadership capacities at all levels while enhancing the role of panchayati raj that could mobilize communities to implement the Clean India mission”.

“Are all the technologies that we have for the solid waste management actually technically feasible in the rural areas?" he asked, stressing the need to provide communities with technologies that are location-specific and feasible in the rural setting Mrs. Sue Coates, Chief of WASH, UNICEF India, highlighted the opportunities and challenges in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector in India. She said the Summit would provide a forum to initiate a dialogue and enlighten the delegates on various issues related to sanitation, toilet movement, woman empowerment, women dignity and girl child education.

Sulabh International Social Service Organisation was invited to speak on the topic of people-centered technology and increased use of ownership. Drawing from the experience of engaging with several beneficiaries and

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

stakeholders, Mr. Samirendra Chatterjee, Executive President of Sulabh International, made a presentation on the importance of Sulabh two-pit toilets and their relevance to achieving hygiene and sanitation development in India.

Sulabh Approach

Besides introducing Sulabh’s achievements and challenges, the presentation provided a summary of the herculean efforts made by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak and his approach towards a sustainable and affordable solution for sanitation.

Mr. Chatterjee said: “This platform will help all of us to share and learn similar lessons from each stakeholder – and this coming together will also serve to provide the leadership and collective resolve necessary to talk to convince and coordinate with our beneficiaries, partners and colleagues in both rural and urban development sectors, so that together we can tackle this huge burden of disease and death brought on by the lack of sanitation”.

Vaishnavi Tiwari, a student member of the Sulabh School Sanitation Club, made a crisp presentation about WASH in schools through children as change agents. She highlighted that while the absence of WASH infrastructure in schools remains a concern, so too is lack of maintenance. A large number of schools have broken and unusable latrines and user-friendly hand washing stations that lack water and soap. Women and children constitute 70% of the population and deserve special attention.

Ending gender-based inequities faced by girls

in schools must be given the highest priority.

She also said that school students should be included in all aspects of decision making with respect to drinking water, toilet planning, its implementation, operation, maintenance and management.

Speaking at the closing plenary, Sujoy Mojumdar, Director (Sanitation), Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, said “65,000 families per day need to be provided toilets over the next four and half years to achieve the goal of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). We need an event like the India WASH Summit in each state of India so that the urgency of the campaign, which goes beyond just construction of toilets, can be directly conveyed to the state authorities. The Ministry will soon be organizing orientation workshops for all district collectors across India to enable them to prioritize sanitation work in their districts.

India also needs to conduct a national hygiene baseline survey like Bangladesh did.

As part of the closing plenary, a special interactive session was also organised in which a number of MPs and MLAs cutting across party lines were present. All of them stressed the importance of sanitation and water and highlighted the problems faced by people in their constituencies.

Mr. Puneet Srivastava of Water Aid, India, narrated the reflections from the summit as follows: • collective behaviour change should be the focus of SBM • sanitation is a basic human right and should be included within the broader horizon of other rights like right to food or right to education • capacity enhancement through large-scale training and implementation of the lessons gained from best practices • student communities should be engaged in the monitoring of SBM to ensure accountability and transparency.

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STORY

A String of Beads W. Somerset Maugham

iss Robinson had always been poor.

When her father died, she had no money. She got a job at the house of Mrs. Livingstone – a rich woman with two young daughters. Miss Robinson’s job was teaching Mrs. Livingstone’s daughters at home. She was their governess.

Miss Robinson lived in the house of Mrs. Livingstone like a servant. But she was intelligent and well-educated. And sometimes she was asked to dinner when the Livingstones had visitors.

One evening, Mrs. Livingstone invited some friends to dinner. She asked fourteen people. At the last moment, one of the guests was unable to come. Mrs. Livingstone now

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Count Borselli pointed to Miss Robinson.

‘That is a very nice string of pearls,’ he said.

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had thirteen guests. But thirteen is an unlucky number and so she invited Miss Robinson.

The people at the dinner were all rich and important. Miss Robinson sat quietly and did not say anything. She was wearing an old dress of Mrs. Livingstone’s and she looked pretty.

She was also wearing a string of pearls.

One of the guests at the dinner was Count Borselli – a rich and famous man. He knew everything about pearls and diamonds and other precious stones.

There was a young lady at dinner called Miss Lyngate. She, also, was wearing a string of pearls. She was very proud of her pearls and she asked Count Borselli to look at them.

‘They’re quite nice pearls,’ said the Count.

This did not please Miss Lyngate. ‘Quite nice’ was not good enough for her. She had wanted the Count to say ‘very nice’ – ‘very, very nice’.

‘This string of pearls cost eight thousand pounds,’ said Miss Lyngate.

‘Yes, that’s the correct price,’ said Count Borselli. He spoke in an ordinary voice. But Miss Lyngate understood. The count did not think that eight thousand pounds was a lot of money.

At that moment, Count Borselli pointed to Miss Robinson.

‘That is a very nice string of pearls,’ he said. ‘Miss Robinson’s pearls?’ said Miss Lyngate. ‘But she is Mrs. Livingstone’s governess!’

Miss Lyngate was now angry. Governesses were not rich people. A governess did not wear a valuable string of pearls.

‘We’re not talking about governesses,’ replied the Count. ‘We’re talking about pearls.

That string of pearls is worth more than fifty thousand pounds.’

Miss Lyngate was surprised and angry.

She did not believe Count Borselli. He was mistaken. Governesses did not wear strings of pearls worth more than fifty thousand pounds.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

‘Miss Robinson,’ she said in a loud voice.

‘Do you know that you are wearing a very valuable string of pearls?’

Everyone stopped talking. They all listened to Miss Robinson’s reply.

‘I paid fifteen shillings for these beads,’ said Miss Robinson quietly.

Miss Lyngate laughed.

‘I knew that Count Borselli was wrong,’ she said. ‘He says that your pearls are worth fifty thousand pounds.’

Now everyone in the room was silent. Fifty thousand pounds! A governess with a string of pearls worth fifty thousand pounds! That was not possible. A woman with fifty thousand pounds was a very rich woman.

‘But I bought these beads for fifteen shillings,’ said Miss Robinson again. ‘Count Borselli made a mistake.’

‘I do not make mistakes,’ said the Count quietly. ‘I know the value of pearls.’

At that moment something unusual happened. A servant came up to the table and spoke quietly to Miss Robinson. The governess looked surprised and her face went white.

‘Excuse me, Mrs. Livingstone,’ she said. ‘I must leave the table. Two men are waiting in the hall. They want to speak to me.’

Miss Robinson got up and left the table.

When she was out of the room, everyone began to talk excitedly.

‘She’s a thief,’ said someone. ‘The two men are policemen. Miss Robinson has stolen the pearls. She will go to prison.’

‘A thief in my house,’ cried Mrs. Livingstone. ‘How terrible!’ What shall I do?

What has she been teaching my daughters?’

Everyone started to talk at the same time.

Suddenly there was silence. Miss Robinson had come back into the room. She looked much happier. She did not look like a thief.

Miss Robinson was not wearing her pearls.

Instead, she had a string of pearls in her hand.

She sat down at the table and passed the string of pearls over to Count Borselli.

‘How much are these pearls worth?’ she asked.

Count Borselli looked at the pearls for a few moments.

‘Fifteen shillings,’ he said.

‘That’s correct,’ replied Miss Robinson.

‘My beads were broken and I took them to a shop a few days ago. When I went to get them,

‘She’s a thief,’ said someone.

‘The two men are policemen.

Miss Robinson has stolen the pearls.’

there was a mistake. The shop gave me the wrong string of pearls. That other string of pearls was worth fifty thousand pounds.’

Everyone laughed. It had all been a mistake.

‘The men from the shop were very pleased to get the pearls back,’ said Miss Robinson.

‘They’ve given me a present of three hundred pounds.’

Again, everyone talked at the same time.

Three hundred pounds was a lot of money for a governess.

Mrs. Livingstone stopped everyone talking.

‘What are you going to do with the tree hundred pounds?’ she asked loudly.

But she did not wait for a reply.

‘You must put the money in a bank,’ she said. ‘You must keep it safely. You may need it one day.’

‘I’m not going to put the money in a bank,’ replied Miss Robinson proudly. ‘All my life I’ve never had a holiday. Now I’m going to the South of France.’ Mrs. Livingstone looked at her angrily. A governess was a servant.

Servants did not go on holiday to the South

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STORY

W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He spoke French even before he spoke a word of English, a fact to which some critics attribute the purity of his style.

His parents died early and, after an unhappy boyhood, which he recorded poignantly in ‘Of Human Bondage’ Maugham became a qualified physician. But writing was his true vocation was his true vocation. For ten years before his first success, he almost literally starved while pouring out novels and plays.

During World War I, Maugham worked for the British Secret Service. He travelled all over the world, and made many visits to America.

After World War II, Maugham made his home in south of France and continued to move between England and Nice till his death in 1965.

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of France. And, also, governesses accepted the advice of their masters and mistresses.

‘You can leave at the end of the month,’ said Mrs. Livingstone in an angry voice. ‘But you need not to come back again. There will be no job for you here.’

‘I don’t want to come back here,’ replied Miss Robinson. And she got up quietly and left the room.

At the end of the month, Miss Robinson went on a holiday to the South of France. Mrs. Livingstone was not pleased. She hoped to hear bad news about Miss Robinson.

Six months later, Mrs. Livingstone gave another dinner.

Miss Lyngate, Count Borselli and other friends were there. They all remembered Miss Robinson.

Someone started to talk about her.

‘Miss Robinson will never come back here again,’ said Mrs. Livingstone in a loud voice.

‘Miss Robinson will not want to come back,’ said Count Borselli.

‘Haven’t you heard the news?’

‘What news?’ someone asked excitedly.

‘I’ve just come from the South of France,’ replied the Count.

‘Everyone there is talking about Miss Robinson. But that’s not her name now. She’s a countess.

She met a count in her hotel and married him soon afterwards.

The count is a millionaire and she now lives with him in Paris. She’ll never work as a governess again.’

‘And all because of a mistake,’ said Miss Lyngate. ‘A cheap string of beads has made her a countess and a millionaire.’

FROM THE PRESS

National Duniya Thursday, February 12, 2015

Maruti Suzuki will construct 200 toilets in five villages Gurgaon

Maruti Suzuki Company was given the Excellent Sanitation and Toilet Award at the India Sanitation Summit 2015. This award was presented to the company for its rural sanitation programmes.

General Manager CSR of the company, Mr. Ranjit Singh said that under this programme, 200 household toilets will be constructed in the villages with the vision to make the village completely free of open defecation by 2017.

The Company has built sewerage system in Baans Haryana village near Maruti Suzuki

plant in Manesar. The village has received the Nirmal Gram Award also.

The Company is constructing separate lavatories for boys and girls in the government schools of Gurgaon, Manesar and Rohtak.

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister, Government of Karnataka, Mr. H.K. Patil along with Founder of Sulabh International, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak and the Managing Trustee of Mahatma Gandhi Trust, Tushar Gandhi presented the award to the Maruti Suzuki Team.

(Translated from Hindi)

New Delhi / Monday / February 23, 2015

World's cheapest potable water for WB village DEEPAK KUMAR JHA 24 NORTH PARGANAS

The joy of villagers of Madhusudankati under Gaighata, who for decades have been drinking contaminated pond water affecting the present and future generations, was visible on January 30, 2015 when they got access to potable water at a throwaway price.

The villagers joined hands with NGOs to bring the world's cheapest potable water at 50 paise per litre from the ponds contaminated by arsenic for years Making a path-breaking innovation, the

villagers joined hands with NGOs to bring the world’s cheapest potable water at 50 paise per litre from the ponds contaminated by arsenic for years.

“This is a revolution,” remarked Tapan Das, a villager of Tegharia when the water as 50 paisa per litre drawn from their own ponds was given to them.

The 50 paise per liter water miracle (as against Rs12 per litre bottled water available in market now) has been brought by collaboration

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FROM THE PRESS of Sulabh International and a French company with the cooperation of West Bengal administration and the villagers.

“This is the first time in the world that we have succeeded in producing pure drinking water at a very nominal cost by this new technology and villagers may get direct benefit,” said well -known social worker and founder of Sulabh International Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak after introducing the cheapest water to the villagers.

The pilot project in three districts of North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad and Nadia had jointly been established few months ago and trial run was proved successful in recent months. The new water purification process has

a capacity to produce 8,000 litres of potable water per day at a cost of 50 paise per litre.

“In 1968 I used to talk to people and convinced them to talk about toilets over a cup of tea. I’m glad the successive Government’s realised the need and I’m sure Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of having toilets in each home will be completed in a few years.

The PM has made this a mission and it will succeed,” Dr. Pathak told The Pioneer on the occasion of his organisation’s milestone achievement. Dr. Pathak has also taken up voluntary cleansing of a bank of Ganga in Varanasi as part of Modi’s Clean Ganga Mission.

Widows celebrate Holi in Varanasi Binay Singh, TNN

Forgetting all the agonies and sufferings they danced with extreme joy singing ‘fag’ (Holi song) and played with Gulal and flower petals on the bank of holy Ganga at Assi Ghat on Friday.

VARANASI: Forgetting all the agonies and sufferings they danced with extreme joy singing 'fag' ( Holi song) and played with Gulal and flower petals on the bank of holy Ganga at Assi Ghat on Friday. Though it was not the occasion of Holi festival, it was a memorable day for the widows of this temple town living away from their dear ones in different ashrams and old age homes.

About 100 widows, mostly elderly, defying the age old tradition that bids them to stay away from festivities of all kind set aside social stigma which does not allow a woman who has lost her husband to participate in such merrymaking. Old aged widows in the twilight years of their lives sailed on the Ganga to reach Assi Ghat where they danced and exchanged colourful flower petals and sprinkled gulal.

"Aaj humare berang jeevan mein rang bhar gaya, mein bahut khush hun" (Today colour filled in my colourless life, I am extremely happy), wondered Naurangi Devi, an elderly 44

widow living in an old age home in Sarnath.

Without worrying about her old age and health she was dancing with other widows and throwing rose petals and gulals to others.

Chandrakali of Durgakund age old home and Namona Gautal of Lalita Ghat ashram could be seen crying with joy. "We have almost forgotten such things in our lives, but it is a special and memorable day for us that added colour to our lives", said another widow.

The unique celebration was organised for the first time in Varanasi by the Sulabh International which takes care of thousands of widows in Varanasi,,Vrindavan and Uttrakhand. Sulabh had also organised Holi for the widows of Vrindavan two years ago.

February 2015 SULABH INDIA

Distinguished Visitors

02/Jan 2015 Ms. Bethany, along with her family from the U.S.A., and Mr. Robin and family from England on a visit to the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets

03/Jan 2015 Mr. Abhishek Singh, Ms. Adayasha, Mr. Jonathan, Ms. Nirmala Reddy and Mr. Prashant, watching the different exhibits at the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets during their visit to the Sulabh Campus.

06/Jan 2015 Ms. Natalie Smiley, Pre-Health student from University of Washington, Ms. Nicole Tornes, student of MPH, University of Glasgow and Ms. Maggie Webster, Pre-med Senior, University of Oregon, were wonder-struck seeing the Sulabh kitchen that works on bio-gas, harvested from a Sulabh Public Toilet Complex.

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Distinguished Visitors

06/Jan 2015 One of the main characteristics of the Sulabh technology-based toilet is its construction with locally available materials. The students of the SOS Nursing School, Faridabad, keenly observing the wood lining of such a toilet model during their visit to the Sulabh Gram.

07/Jan 2015 A group of students from University of Illinois on a visit to see the various activities and technologies of Sulabh being shown clean treated recycled water collected from a Sulabh public toilet complex which is colourless and odourless.

08/Jan 2015 The students of Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi, along with Prof. Dr. Mallika Kumar, and the students of Wisconsin University of America, along with Prof. Ms. Ann Rupnow, being shown a cheap Sulabh toilet model with thatched superstructure, suiting the pockets of deprived sections during their visit to the Sulabh Campus.

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09/Jan 2015 A group of students from the Vidyalankar Institute of Technology, along with Ms. Poonam Shah (teacher), Dr. Aniket (teacher) and Mr. Bharat Satpute (coordinator) being shown an electronically programmed commode mount based on Japanese and South Korean technology which ensures postdefecation ablution on push button system.

10/Jan 2015 Dr. Tara Devi Ashok, Professor from the Department of Biology and Anthropology in the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA, who visited the Sulabh Campus on January 10, observing the Duckweed Waste Water Treatment Technology. Duckweed, a small freefloating and fast growth aquatic plant, has great ability to reduce the BOD, COD, and suspended solids, bacterial and other pathogens from waste water.

15/Jan 2015 A group of students from the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, comprising Ilaria Mazzocco, Zuha Moin, Nimarjit Singh, Yasser Ahmed, Robert Bonn, Prad Nadakuduty, Saumya Kurup and Sharon Yoo, watching the water seal or PVC P-trap being used in the Sulabh twin-pit pourflush compost toilet, which requires only 1 litre of water to flush per use.

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Distinguished Visitors

16/Jan 2015 Two teachers, Mrs. Poonam and Mrs. Meenakshi from Shiv Vani Senior Secondary School, New Delhi along with some students visited the Sulabh Campus to study the Sulabh technologies and the training being given to schoolgirls in making sanitary napkins at the Sanitation Facilitation Napkin Centre. The Sanitary Napkin Vending Machine is designed to provide sanitary napkin at any time when one requires. This machine works automatically on the insertion of coin.

17/Jan 2015 Mr. Bilaus Fam, Ms. Jane Tenell and Ms. Wendy Blake watching the model of a Sulabh Mobile Toilet which can be towed to the grounds and parks where social, religious and cultural programmes are held. The toilet is fully equipped with all disposal facilities.

21/Jan 2015 Mr. Paul Willoughby, Director of Marketing India, Hennessy & Hinchcliffe and Mr. Navneet Gautam, Deputy Manager Sales & Engineering, JSL Architecture Ltd. who visited the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, watching the ‘INCINOLET’ – an electric toilet from the USA which instead of flushing, quickly burns excreta and thus conserves fresh water.

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21/Jan 2015 A group of 46 Nursing students along with their teachers – Ms. Sunita Singhal and Ms. Asha – from the Safdarjung Hospital College of Nursing, New Delhi, on a study tour to the Sulabh Campus.

22/Jan 2015 A group of students from Flow India (Birla Vidya Niketan) along with their teachers – Ms. Anu Narula, Ms. Megha Anand, Ms. Sweta Sachdeva, Ms. Richa Nagpal, Mr. Manoj Kumar, Ms. Jyoti Thakur and Ms. Misha Arora – on an educational tour to see the various activities and technologies of Sulabh.

24/Jan 2015 The participants of “INDOVATION-2015 – An Exhibition-cum-Workshop on Technology for Water Quality & Sanitation in Rural Areas” – organized by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on January 23 in New Delhi looking at the mantle lamp, fed by human excretabased biogas to burn, harnessed from the Sulabh biogas plant linked with a public toilet, during their visit to the Sulabh Campus. The participants were from different States, NGOs, the World Bank and the National Drinking Water Security Pilot Project.

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Distinguished Visitors

27/Jan 2015 A group of Second Year B.Sc. Nursing students from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, and their tutor Ms. Babita Sahoo, who visited the Sulabh Campus, are being shown the model of a biogas digester by which gas generated from human excreta is harnessed and used for different purposes such as lighting mantle lamp, body warming, cooking food and electricity generation.

28/Jan 2015 Mr. Sanjay Kumar Malhotra, PG.T. (Commerce) from Chiranjiv Bharati School, Gurgaon, who visited the Sulabh Campus, watching biogas generation from the public toilet complex built outside the campus. The biogas digester is buried under the flowerbed attached to a public toilet, a Sulabh technology by which human excreta is fully recycled resulting in the production of biogas which can be used for cooking, lighting, etc.

31/Jan 2015 Ms. Satya Alexander, Ms. Sheetal Asthana and Ms. Shelji led a group of students of the First Year General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) and 40 students of the First Year Auxiliary Nursing & Midwifery (ANM) from Salokaya College of Nursing to learn about the technologies of Sulabh displayed at the Sulabh Campus that promote community health, as part of curriculum for promotion of community health and prevention of diseases.

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Sulabh News from States

Chhatisgarh Raipur

A 15- seater Sulabh Public Toilet Complex, built at a cost of Rs. 16.57 lakh at the Press Club in Ward No. 16, Raipur, was inaugurated on February 20 by Hon’ble Mr. Pramod Dubey, Mayor of Raipur and Hon’ble Mr. Praful Vishwakarma, Sabhapati. The complex has separate provision of toilets, urinals and bathing facility for ladies and gents.

A view of the Sulabh Public Toilet Complex at Raipur

Goa

Mormugao

he foundation-stone for a 12-seater Sulabh toilet complex and another twin 12-seater, complex in Zuari Nagar and V.P. Sancoale, Mormugao was laid by Hon’ble Mr. Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavlikar, Goa’s Minister for P.W.D., on February 1. Hon’ble Mrs. Alina M. Saldana, Minister for Forest and Environment, Mr. Dhond, Superintending Engineer, P.W.D. and Mr. Anand Shekhar, Hony. Controller, Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, Goa State branch and local citizens were present on the occasion.

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The foundation-laying ceremony at Mormugao

Jammu & Kashmir Jammu

o carry forward the mission of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, for making India clean, Hon’ble Rajesh Gupta, BJP MLA- elect from Jammu East, laid the

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foundation-stone of a Sulabh Shauchalaya Complex at Vivekanand Chowk in Jammu on February 4. The Commissioner, Mr. Kiran Wattal and Controller of Sulabh International, Jammu and Kashmir State Branch, Mr. A.K.

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Sulabh News from States

Singh, and engineers Mr. Arvind and Mr. Paramjeet Singh were present.

Endorsing the initiative taken by the Prime Minister to give priority to cleanliness through the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the MLA-elect said, “it is imperative that people should contribute collectively in making the country free of solid waste, and social ills like corruption, crime against women, illiteracy, drug addiction etc.

In his address, the Commissioner emphasized the need for judicious use of toilet facility and discouraging defecation in the open.

Jharkhand Bokaro

he foundation-stone for construction of a Sulabh Public Toilet Complex at upgraded Madhya Vidyalaya, Tetulia, Bokaro, in collaboration with the Bokaro Steel, a subsidiary of the Steel Authority of India under Corporate Social Responsibility within the Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya Campaign was laid by Mr. Anutosh Maitra, Chief Executive Officer, Bokaro Steel on February 10.

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Mr. Anutosh Maitra, Chief Executive Officer, Bokaro Steel. speaking on the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the Sulabh Toilet Complex at Madhya Vidyalaya, Tetulia.

Mango new six-seater Sulabh Public Toilet Complex built at a cost of Rs. 8.52 lakh in collaboration with the Mango Notified Area Committee was inaugurated on February 25, at Ulidih Tribal School Football Ground, Mango, by Hon’ble Mr. Saryoo Rai, Jharkhand’s Minister, Department of Parliamentary Affairs, Food Supply and Consumer Affairs.

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Hon’ble Mr. Saryoo Rai, inaugurating the Sulabh Public Toilet Complex

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Madhya Pradesh Ratlam

he foundation-stone of a de luxe Sulabh Toilet Complex at a cost of Rs. 19 lakh at Palace Road, Ratlam, to be constructed in collaboration with the Municipal Corporation, Ratlam, was laid on January 21 by Hon’ble Mayor Dr. Sunita Yarde in the presence of Mr. Arun Rao, Sabhapati, Public Works Samiti, Mr. Ashok Porwal, Adhyaksha, Mr. Salim Khan, Executive Engineer, officials and local Sulabh workers.

The complex will have separate provision of toilets, urinals and bathing facility for ladies and gents.

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The foundation-laying ceremony of the Sulabh toilet complex at Palace Road, Ratlam

Maharashtra Nagpur

he Sulabh Suvidha Kendra at Dr. Ambedkar Marg, ChambarNalla Bridge, Nagpur, built in collaboration with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation was inaugurated on February 9 by Hon’ble Mr. Pravin Prabhakarao Datke, Mayor of Nagpur, in the presence of Mr. Dayashankar Tiwari, Mrs. Manisha Ghodeswar, Chairperson, Aasi Nagar Zone,

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Mr. Murlidhar Meshram, Councillor, Mrs. Kiran Rodge, Councillor, Mr. Raju Babra, Ex Councillor, Mr. Bholanath Sahare, and Sulabh social workers of the State.

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A view of the Sulabh Suvidha Kendra in Nagpur Hon’ble Mr. Pravin Prabhakarao Datke, Mayor of Nagpur, cutting the ribbon to inaugurate the Sulabh Suvidha Kendra

Sulabh News from States

Uttar Pradesh Ayodhya (Faizabad)

n pursuance of the declaration made by the Hon’ble UP chief Minister, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, under the State plan for tourism, Sulabh has built five 20-seater modern Sulabh Public Toilet Complexes in Ayodhya in the Janpad of Faizabad. The complexes have provision for bathing facility, toilets and urinals with special arrangement for the differently-abled persons.

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Sulabh Public Toilet Complex at Tulsi Udyan, Ayodhya

Sulabh Toilet Complex near R.M. Camp Office, Nayaghat, Ayodhya Sulabh Toilet Complex at Rajghat Udyan, Ayodhya Sulabh Toilet Complex at Pucca Ghat, Ram Ki Paini, Ayodhya Sulabh Public Toilet Complex near Choudhary Charan Singh Dwar, Ayodhya

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World Day of

Key Facts

• Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 8.2 million deaths in 2012.

• About 30% of cancer deaths are due to the five leading behavioral and dietary risks: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol use.

• Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer causing 22% of global cancer deaths and 71% of global lung cancer deaths.

Each year on 4 February, WHO and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) supports Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer.

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth and spread of cells. It can affect almost any part of the body. The growths often invade surrounding tissue and can metastasize to distant sites. Many cancers can be prevented by avoiding exposure to common risk factors, such as tobacco smoke. In addition, a significant proportion of cancers can be cured, by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, especially if they are detected early.

Taking place under the tagline ‘Not beyond us’, World Cancer Day 2015 takes a positive and proactive approach to the fight against cancer, highlighting that solutions do exist across the continuum of cancer, and that they are within our reach. The campaign explores how we can implement what we already know in the areas of prevention, early detection, treatment and care.

Social Justice Friday, February 20

The United Nations' (UN) World Day of Social Justice is annually observed on February 20 to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration.

ISSN: 2230–7567

R.N.I. Regn. No. 49322/89

ISSN: 2230–7567

FEBRUARY 2015, ` 20/-

Sant

Ravidas Jayanti February 3, 2015 Sant Ravidas, a Hindu social reformer, openly challenged social inequalities and evils like the caste system and untouchability. The pious soul was an ardent devotee of Sri Ram and his compositions inspired the Bhakti movement in North India during the medieval period.

From childhood, he showed inclination for spiritual activities. He carried this zest of spirituality all this life and spearheaded the fight against discrimination based on caste and preached the idea of equality.

Hon’ble Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, being felicitated by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Sulabh Founder, with a memento