Hygiene in Karauli Began with One Determined Woman and a Video
Channel: VideoVolunteers
Date: 2012-08-29

Karauli is a small town in Rajasthan, an arid desert state of India. Karauli market serves a population of about one million. It did not have proper toilet facilities and this was resulting in a major health hazard. In India as a whole,  about 75% of the surface water  is contaminated because of open defecation and defective toilets releasing waste into open ditches. In Karauli, the sensory filth was also creating an embarrassment in a town with substantial religious tourism. Video Volunteers' correspondent Sunita Kazera's reporting of the problem two years ago laid the foundation for the issue to be taken up by municipal authorities on an urgent basis. Today, 128 unhygienic private constructions have been demolished proper flush toilets and about 4-5 public facilities serve the town. Here is the story of one woman's crusade against public defecation.

Two years ago, this was also a smelly health hazard. Lack of toilet facilities meant that men and women urinated and defecated in the open. The private toilet facilities that people had built for their own use were ill planned and added to the crisis with excrement being released into open drains, because there was no sewerage system. In a country where 1000 kids die every day from diarrohea related diseases, this was like any of our many monuments to civic health apathy.

What was different here was a Video Volunteers activist and IndiaUnheard Community Correspondent Sunita Kasera. Armed with her video camera she went out and shot the state of toilets and the health hazard they presented. Boldly shooting the filth in public places, meticulously documenting interviews of how people's applications and requests for hygienic toilets went unheard. She interviewed then Chairperson of the Nagar Parishad, as the Municipal Council is locally known, Mr Bharat Lal, who denies on camera knowing of toilets in disrepair. He said that there was no space to build more toilets. 

Wherever she went to make her video documentary, people cooperated with her, but called her foolish for going through so much effort to persuade authorities who didn't care. They had already filed application after application, and they had gone ignored. They appreciated her effort, but were convinced it was a waste of time. Her video was released on Video Volunteers on 21st June 2010. [earlier action video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71uGLgLEJJs ]

But her quest didn't stop there. She started meeting people, speaking with them about the problem. She researched information to arm herself with a compelling case. Then she started bringing up the subject with various authorities. She spoke of the risks to health, the difficulties women faced in urinating in the open, she described the impact of the lack of hygiene and filth on tourism in a town like Karauli, where a large number of tourists arrive to visit temples. Some cooperative authorities she spoke with included Mr. Mukesh Jain of Ward 18, Mr Hari Om of Ward 14 and Mr. Gopal Sharma, Secretary of Karauli's Nagar Palika as the municipality is called.

read the rest of the article at this link- http://indiaunheard.videovolunteers.org/when-hygiene-began-with-one-woman-and-a-video/

Help us caption & translate this video!

http://amara.org/v/C3cC/