16 hindustantimes
MONDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2017
e sta b l i s h e d i n 1 9 24
Delays add to
the trauma
Provide a quick response
system for rape survivors
A
few months after the 2012 gang rape and murder of
a paramedical student in New Delhi, the Centre
had announced the constitution of the ‘Nirbhaya
Fund’ for the implementation of initiatives aimed
at enhancing safety for women. The Fund was set
up with a corpus of Rs 1,000 core and
now has Rs 3,100 crore. While money
has not been a problem, disbursal has
proved to be tricky due to lack of clarity in rules on how and at
what stage should a State disburse compensation under fund to
a rape survivor. On September 28, the Supreme Court said it will
lay down guidelines for proper utilisation of the fund. Noting
that there was no nodal ministry in the Centre to take feedback
from states on how the money allocated is spent, a bench headed
by Justice MB Lokur commented that it was an “unhappy state
of affairs”.
The Centre’s affidavit to SC on how much money states have
spent under the scheme showed that in several instances, states
had not explained why the money was disbursed even though
there were no applications from survivors for compensation. For
example, Meghalaya had, between 2015 and 2017, released over
Rs 6 lakh from the allocation. However, it did not furnish details
of the expenditure.
Along with rules for proper disbursal of funds, there is also a
need to look into the schemes that were set up under the fund.
For example, the one-stop centres for providing sanctuary to
women who have suffered sexual violence have been put on hold
since the Centre now wants to concentrate on prevention of vio-
lence. The SC is correct in saying that there has to be clarity in
the rules about schemes. Alongside, the Centre must ensure that
whichever programmes it comes up with, five issues have to be
non-negotiable: The victims must get quick and good medical
attention; she must feel safe and not face any further harass-
ment; she must get sound legal aid; she must know what kind of
compensation she is eligible for and most importantly, the FIR
must be filed quickly and properly. Rape survivors need a quick
response system. Unfortunately, the State has failed provide one.
§
People must be made
aware of cyber traps
Inarushtoexpanddigitalliteracy,don’t
forgettoputequalstressonInternetsafety
I
ndia’s digital divide continues to be embarrassingly
wide. While the overall Internet penetration is 33%, it is
only 16% in the rural areas, said a report released last
week. According to the Cellular Operators’ Association
of India IMC-Deloitte report, India ranks 36th globally in
Internet inclusion based on availability, affordability, rele-
vance and readiness. The report also noted Net Neutrality as a
continuous area of debate. It also underlined the need to define
the regulatory guidelines towards new emerging technologies
which are giving rise to new use cases.
To overcome the digital divide, the NDA launched the Digi-
tal India programme, which targets to train 60 million people in
rural areas. It has two schemes to promote digital literacy —
national digital literacy mission and digital saksharta abhiyan.
Even the private sector has been chipping in: Technology com-
panies with interest in user data have been trying to teach rural
Indians, especially women and the unlettered, the basics of
Internet. The push for digital literacy can work far better if
there is an equal or much more stress on literacy as a whole.
This is because literate people will seamlessly move to cyber
world for the vast resources it provides at a user’s disposal.
The challenge for the government, however, is not just
expanding the base of digital literate people; it’s also about how
to teaching them the basics of safe Internet use. This has been
the focus in the developed world. For example, in Britain a com-
mittee has clearly said that digital literacy minus training in
safety issues is unacceptable. They recommended that digital
literacy must “sit alongside reading, writing and mathematics
as the fourth pillar of education; and that no child should leave
school without a well-rounded understanding of the digital
world.” India must follow this not just in schools but also for
adult/late entrants into the digital highway.
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§
straightforward
SHASHI SHEKHAR
Learn a unique lesson from Bapu
What made people take the cleanliness pledge
with Hindustan in the run­up to Gandhi Jayanti?
T
oday is Gandhi Jayanti. On this
occasion, all of us remember
Bapuinourownways.Someofus
idolise him even as others per-
ceive him as full of follies. That is
the power of Mahatma Gandhi.
Every discussion about him further consoli-
dates his eternal legacy.
ourtake Let me tell the uninitiated that Gandhi
hadan important role to play in the launch of
Hindustan Times. On September 26, 1924,
while presentingthis newspaper as a daily to
the people of the country, he had expressed a
wishthatitplayaroleinthestruggleforinde-
pendenceandthequestforsocialreforms.At
that time, his son Devdas Gandhi was on the
editorial board of Hindustan Times. He went
on to successfully become the editor of the
newspaper. Even today the objective of the
Hindustan Times group is national service
and social reform. Therefore, when Prime
MinisterNarendraModi,whilededicatingthe
fortnightprecedingGandhiJayantitocleanli-
ness, gave the slogan: Swachhta Hi Seva
(cleanlinessistherealservice),oursisterpub-
lication Hindustan took it up like a mission.
Swami Vivekananda used to say that a
healthy mind can only reside in a healthy
body. Still, lakhs of people lose their lives
every year owing to lack of hygiene. A report
E A R LY S T A R T
n Students and residents take part in cleaning up project as a part of the Swachh Bharat
initiative in Mumbai
Good hygiene practices
can improve India’s GDP
We must find innovative ways of communicating with
people and convincing them to adopt the toilet habit
YASMIN
ALI HAQUE
M
illions of Indians still defecate in
theopen.Apracticethatislinkedto
ahostofconditionswhichhamper
achild’srighttosurviveandthrive.
Diarrhoeaalone,forinstance,kills13children
under five in India every hour. Ultimately,
this is a practice that is affecting the nation’s
productivity and it’s GDP.
The prime minister himself has taken on
this challenge and set a goal to end open defe-
cation by October 2019. By setting such an
ambitious and essential target, the Swacch
BharatMission(SBM)hasbeenabletocreate
aonce-in-a-generationmovementsupported
bythepublicandprivatesectoraswellaspub-
licbudgets.Theimportantroleofcivilsociety
including traditionalandreligiousleadersis
crucial to creating awareness around this
seemingly intractable problem. As a result,
the strides this country has already made in
creating open defecation free (ODF) villages
is exemplary – to date, it stands at 39% of
6,30,000 villages.But there isstillahugechal-
lenge before us.
From UNICEF’s perspective, we need to
focusonsustainableresultsforchildren;espe-
ciallyaspectssuchasimprovedhygieneprac-
tices, using toilets and washing hands with
innervoice
THE POWER AND BEAUTY
OF DETERMINATION
AND FORTITUDE
Rajasthan Patrika Pvt. Ltd., Sector-V, Phase-IV-E, Near Bambala Pulia, Opp. M.P.S. School, Pratap Nagar, Jaipur (Rajasthan).
BOARD: (011)23361234 ● EDITORIAL: (011)66561234 Extn. 1254, 1268 ● CIRCULATION: (011)66561111 ● ADVERTISING: (011)66561389 ● FAX: (011)66561270.
MANAGING EDITOR: SOUMYA BHATTACHARYA
comment
by World Health Organization says that for a
population of 1 lakh, more than 133 deaths
take place because of air pollution. As many
as 2.7 million people die of diarrhoea and
waterbornediseasesinIndiaeveryyear.The
lack of hygiene causes 15 serious ailments
including malaria, diarrhoea, cholera, den-
gue and hepatitis B . This can be tackled only
with a people’s movement.
Before embarking on this movement, we
decidedtohaveaconversationwiththepeople
themselves. In the first phase, simultaneous
dialogues were held in every district of Uttar
Pradesh,Uttarakhand,BiharandJharkhand.
We were happy to discover that the people,
who turned out in numbers larger than we
expected, had their hearts in the right place
whenitcametoplayingapartinourmission.
As I write this, lakhs of citizens in more than
3,500 awareness programmes have taken the
pledgetomaintaincleanliness.Iamnotquot-
ing exact statistics because our mission will
continue till the evening of October 2 and the
numbers are growing every day. The pledge
hasn’t been taken just for namesake. People
have already begun implementing it.
Here’soneexample.OnSeptember23,even
as it was raining in Dehradun, my colleagues
inHindustandiscoveredthatanumberofpeo-
ple ventured out to clean the streets clad in
SHASHI S KASHYAP/HT PHOTO
soap. This is a complex issue in India where
open defecation is a deeply rooted habit for
many.Wemustthereforefocusoninnovative
waysofcommunicatingwithandconvincing
peopletoadoptthehabitofusingatoilet.This
can achieved by fostering social movements
and creating the aspiration for every house-
hold to own and use a toilet.
UNICEF’scurrentcommitmenttofocuson
15states and150districts wherethesituation
is most challenging, will be accelerated.A
UNICEFstudyfoundthatinafullyODFenvi-
ronment,theeconomicbenefitsofsanitation
per household outweigh the cumulative
investmentby4.3timesovera10-yearperiod.
There is clearly an overwhelming case for
investments in improving sanitation access.
Over the coming months, our focuswillbe
primarily on the most marginalised house-
holdsandtheirchildren,includingtribalcom-
munities, Dalits as well as those living in
urban slums, drought and flood affected
areas.Workingwiththepoorestquintileofthe
populationhelpssocietytoachievethegreat-
est return on investment. It also directly
improves the dignity and safety of women
whichisanimperativeforthesocio-economic
development of any country.
UNICEF’scommitmenttoequity–givinga
fair chance in life to every child, especially
thosemostdisadvantaged–isbuiltontheevi-
denceandconviction that it is rightin princi-
ple and right in practice. I strongly believe
thattheSwachhBharatMovement,rootedin
equity, will contribute to a healthy India.
Yasmin Ali Haque is UNICEF Representative for India
The views expressed are personal
Deepali Chaudhary
Pleasant or unpleasant moments are a part
ofour lifelikedynamicseasons,andmanya
times, create confusion in our minds. We
keep pondering over the circumstances
which led to those moments and become
happy or unhappy. We want to do many
thingsbutputthemonholdduetoprevailing
circumstances/responsibilities.Thisresults
in us being anxious and restless. Then to
achieve peace of mind, we run after many
things like meditation, spiritual gurus,
HINDUSTAN T IMES, NEW DELH I
n Schoolchildren look at a picture of Gandhi
at Mani Bhavan, Mumbai REUTERS
raincoats or holding umbrellas. This is the
kind of self-sufficiency that Gandhiji wanted
us to display. It was a pleasant surprise to
learn that instead of relying on government
machinery,thepeoplehadtakenaninitiative
on their own to clean up their neighbour-
hoods. Every colleague from Hindustan had
similar stories to narrate. It isn’t possible to
sharealloftheminthiscolumn,butitisclear
that if this tradition of volunteerism goes on,
a number of health-related problems in the
country will be resolved on their own.
A ‘swachh Bharat’ is one
of Gandhiji’s dreams
Over a third of India’s villages are open defecation­free.
But people need to feel more involved in this campaign
RATAN
N TATA
I
f reduction in malnutrition is profit,
thennutritioninitiativesincreasereve-
nue and sanitation initiatives reduce
costs.Abusinessmodelismostsuccess-
ful when revenues increase and costs
decrease simultaneously.
Formanyyears,Indiahasrankedamong
the countries with the worst undernutri-
tion, stunting and wasting levels in the
world, even worse than some countries in
sub-Saharan Africa.
Ithasbeenestimatedbyvariousresearch
groups that about 40% of our children are
stunted. Poor levels of sanitation in rural
areas have inhibited the effectiveness of
nutrition initiatives like Integrated Child
DevelopmentServices(ICDS) andmid-day
meals. Lack of sanitation at schools has
meant there is a disproportional dropout
rateamongadolescentgirls,manyofwhom
are then married early, have very early
pregnancies and have children with low
birth weight who are highly susceptible to
being malnourished.
Stunted and wasted children don’t
achieve their full physical and cognitive
potential,andthishamperstheireconomic
potential and their ability to provide better
opportunitiestotheirchildren.Thisvicious
cycle continues.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi
announced the Swachh Bharat Mission in
2014withagoalofachievinguniversalsani-
tation in five years, it was like a breath of
fresh air. This is exactly what India needed
to build an India of the future — a strong
push to reduce the costs of insanitation,
whichwillallowourinitiativesinnutrition,
education,skilling,povertyalleviationand
livelihood generation take full bloom and
increaseourrevenueandprofits.Theentire
country has rallied around this bold call to
action, and so have the Tata Trusts.
Through theTataWater Mission,weare
providing strategic support to the govern-
ment at the central, state and district level
WOMEN AND CHILDREN HAVE
BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE­
MAKERS, SHOWING US THAT
ONCE PEOPLE BELIEVE IN AN
IDEA NO CHALLENGE IS TOO
HARD TO OVERCOME
workshops, reading etc.
Try a different approach. Accept all the
moments of life willingly without a trace of
hesitation or resistance. Accept them in
totality and do not begrudge them; or try to
run away from them.
First, connect with your inner self and
establish a strong bond with yourself. Find
some solitude and a serene atmosphere and
give it a deep, lingering and honest thought.
Think about your dreams or the things
which would make you happy and bring
serenityofmind.Thinkaboutthestumbling
Next year the nation celebrates the 150th
birth anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi.
If in this year, thanks to the cooperation
between the government and the common
man,Indiaemergesalittlecleaner,thenitwill
bearealtributefromthecountrytothefather
of the nation.
Here we would like to make a special men-
tionofUttarPradeshchiefministerYogiAdit-
yanath,deputychiefministerKeshavPrasad
Maurya, deputy chief minister Dinesh
Sharma, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil
KumarModi,UttarakhandchiefministerTri-
vendra Singh Rawat and Jharkhand chief
minister Raghubar Das. Not only did they
cooperate in making our campaign success-
ful, but they also individually participated in
the programmes hosted by us.
Apart from these, many other state and
central ministers and people’s representa-
tivestookpartinthecampaign.Cleanlinessis
asubjectofsocialreform.Itisamatterofgreat
satisfaction that our politicians have risen
above their ideological differences and
considered Hindustan’s mission as their
own mission.
We would also like to thank from the bot-
tom of the heart people of the Hindi belt who
have adopted the motto of Swachhta Hi Seva
andtakenthepledge:“Maakasam,Hindustan
swachhrakhengehum.”Onehopesthiscam-
paign will be an ongoing endeavour that will
lay a foundation for the clean and healthy
India that all of us deserve.
Shashi Shekhar is editor­in­chief Hindustan
n letters@hindustantimes.com
for the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Our most significant contribution has
been providing the ministry of drinking
water and sanitation with 600 talented and
qualified young professionals called Zila
Swachh Bharat Preraks (ZSBP), one for
each district in India, who are posted in the
district collector’s team to help bring inno-
vation,energyandtheenthusiasmofyouth
totheimplementationofthecountry’sflag-
ship program.
We have also helped the government
set-upvirtualclassroomstoscaleupcapac-
itybuildingofSwachhagrahisormotivators
who use community approaches in sanita-
tiontotriggerbehaviourchangeamongpeo-
ple and convince them to build, use and
maintain toilets in every village of India.
It is very encouraging to see the govern-
ment’s commitment to implement the
Swachh Bharat Mission unlike traditional
governmentprogrammes.Thefocusoncon-
vening the collective effort of development
partners like the Tata Trusts, corporates,
faith-based groups, civil society groups,
NGO’s, and most of all the community is
yielding phenomenal results.
Over a third of India’s villages have
already been declared open defecation free
and nearly 30% more rural Indians have
access to safe sanitation compared to three
years ago. But what pleases me the most is
the way the people have responded, taken
ownership and made it a mass movement.
I hear stories of ordinary individuals
doingextraordinarythingstomotivatecom-
munitiestochoosesafesanitationoveropen
defecation.Womenandchildrenhavebeen
thebiggestchange-makers,showingusthat
once people believe in an idea no challenge
is too hard to overcome, not even habits
which have been a way of life for centuries.
The Tata Trusts are also supporting the
central and state governments on improv-
ing nutritional intake among vulnerable
groupsthroughinitiativeslikefortification
with essential vitamins and minerals of
daily essentials like salt, oil and milk,
strengtheningICDSdeliverythroughtech-
nicalsupportinover160districts,andpolicy
supportthroughtheTataNationalInstitute
of Nutrition (NIN) Centre, among others.
With the Swachh Bharat Mission com-
pletingthreeyearsonOctober2,2017,alotof
progress has been made, but there is still
work to be done. The Tata Trusts are com-
mittedtocontinuesupportingthisunprece-
dentedprogramandhelpachievethedream
of the father of the nation – a clean India
whereeveryindividuallendshimselftoper-
fect sanitation.
Weowethistoourchildren;weowethisto
our future.
Ratan N Tata is chairman, Tata Trusts
The views expressed are personal
blockswhicharestoppingyoufromrealising
them.Youwouldfindyourselfansweringall
thequestionswhichyoualwayshadinmind
but never really addressed seriously.
All you need to do is let go of the fear of
uncertainty and make a start. You will see
your dreams slowly taking shape. You will
be overwhelmed by the sheer beauty and
powerofyourdeterminationandefforts.Do
not give up at any point of life.
Inner Voice comprises contributions from our
readers. The views expressed are personal
n Innervoice@hindustantimes.com
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