School dropouts and toilets

I yesterday (27 Dec 2010) watched the live webcast of IIMA Conclave, an interaction between Narendra Modi and IIM A alumni at Ahmedabad. It is no secret that Gujarat has made tremendous progress under Narendra Modi in the last 10 years. It could be highlighted by a remark by Mr Ratan Tata – “You must be stupid if you are not (doing business) here (in Gujatat)”. The speech today from Narendra Modi was as always, very inspiring and full of facts, rather than promises. After the speech, there was a Q & A session with the audience and there was one specific question and its response which I am going to share in this post.

The question was about school drop out rates in Gujarat. Interestingly, Narendra Modi answered this question by sharing the progress Gujarat has made in this regard. He said that when he took over the Gujarat governance for the first time in the year 2000, the drop out rate was 20% (from Std 1 to 5). After interviewing girl students, their parents and school staff, it was found out that the schools didn’t have separate toilets for boys and girls at that time. And sometime from Std 1 to 5, the girls started getting conscious about using the same toilets as boys, and they started to drop out of school instead.

School Children in a government school in Bangalore

What Mr Modi pointed out after that is he put up a huge plan of constructing separate toilets in schools at a massive scale. He used to supervise this himself and got weekly reports about how many toilets have been built since the last week. He mentioned they built some 40,000 toilets in the years to follow. And the results speak for themselves. The drop out rate fell to 5% in 2005 and 2% in 2010, which is nothing less than amazing. He further said he aimed to reduce this to zero very soon.

Whats commendable here are not only the results, but also the openness to understand that school toilets could be the reason for children dropping out of schools. Once identified, a plan was made and executed ferociously, unlike in other government schemes in various parts of the country. Kudos to Mr Modi and all the Gujarat government and education officials involved in this. It will make a huge difference to the prosperity of Gujarat when these students pass out and join the mainstream.

Why India’s rural development is important for the nation?

India lives in its villages, and while the cities have grown immensely over the last 20 years, rural areas have not seen that kind of development. For India’s economy to be strong, the rural economy needs to grow. Rural areas are still plagued by problems of malnourishment, illiteracy, unemployment and lack of basic infrastructure like schools, colleges, hospitals, sanitation, etc. This has led to youth moving out of villages to work in cities. This could be compared to the brain drain from India to US. Our villages need to grow in tandem with cities and standard of life has to improve there for inclusive growth to happen. If rural India is poor, India is poor.

Poverty in Rural India

India lives in many generations, and visiting rural areas very easily shows that they lag behind cities by decades. While we have latest services and products available in our cities now, villagers are still coping with age old products. It is easy to see the rising disconnect between cities and villages. Some examples are –

While we have international fully air conditioned schools in our cities, the schools in villages still don’t have benches and chairs, leave alone computers. We have a huge shortage of teachers in rural areas, and the school drop out rate is huge.
In cities, we have wide roads, flyovers and underpasses while many villages still don’t have proper roads. Urban-rural road links can play a vital role in rural growth.
Employment opportunities are hardly there in villages which forces youth to move to cities creating imbalance in the ecosystem and leaving the villages deprived.
While we may have numerous hospitals, nursing homes and medical facilities in cities, villages neither have health awareness nor health facilities. See the condition of major hospitals like AIIMS to know how many villagers have to flock to cities for even basic treatments.

Women fetching water from kilometers away

Apart from the above options, villages need to have –

Proper land reforms to make sure land is held, owned, cultivated, irrigated to make the most efficient use and maximum output.
Rural credit – Banking services need to be popularized and credit should be available for basic services like agriculture.
Electrification – Many villages still receive only 2 to 6 hours of electricity per day which needs to drastically improve to empower the villages of India.

Mobiles have empowered rural India

Basically, what we need is to empower the rural people by providing them education and proper health care. They need to have infrastructure like electricity and water so that they are free from the cycle of droughts and floods. We need to give them self-employment so that they want to stay in villages instead of migrating in cities. There is a need to empower the villagers, and not just supporting them by food subsidies, loan waivers which end up crippling them. India will grow only when rural India marches hand in hand with cities in the twenty first century.

No Waste – Call for Action

In my last few posts, I have already written about “What happens to our waste?” and “What can we do about it?” If you have not already read those posts, read them now before continuing. In this post, I am going to list down a ‘call to action’ plan where I intend to implement dry waste segregation, collection and recycling in residential apartments across Bangalore and Delhi/NCR. I am already involved in some waste management related activities in Bangalore for the last few months. Apart from that, I am participating in Landmark Education’s Self Expression and Leadership Program (SELP) and as part of that, I have to do a community project. So I am taking this up to fulfill both the above objectives…

What I want to accomplish is to implement dry waste segregation at source (into paper, plastic, others) in residential apartment complexes and ensure the segregated waste is sold to the recycler. This will reduce the waste going out to landfills by a good percentage (60-80%) and also generate income for the residential apartment. This income can be used in the welfare/salary of the housekeeping staff in these apartments. So lets get to the plan now and see how do we go about executing the “No Waste” initiative –

Step 1 – Talk to the group managing day to day affairs of the apartment and educate them about the “No Waste” initiative.

Step 2 – Do a door to door educational / awareness campaign educating the residents about the need to segregate waste and its advantages.

Step 3 – Distributing colored bags for three different levels of segregation of waste. Step 2 and 3 can be clubbed together.

Step 4 – Doing weekly collection of the segregated dry waste (every Sat/Sun) from the residents, educating the residents at the same time if they have not done it properly, or educating the households which are not participating.

Step 5 – Organizing a event where residents / maids / housekeeping staff will be educated about the need for waste segregation. Some NGO will come and readily help us with this. Can be done independent of the other steps.

Step 6 – Storing the collected waste in the apartment complex, where it can be picked up by the recycling company or some NGO where it can be recycled. This can be done on weekly or fortnightly basis depending on quantity of waste generated.

Step 7 – Revenue generated from selling off recyclable material can be used to promote the campaign and to pay the salary of the housekeeping staff involved in the same.

Lets stop dumping our waste into landfills

So it will be a win-win situation for all. It will be good for the environment as the waste going to landfills will be reduced drastically. It will be good for the industry as it will get recyclable paper/plastic for use as raw material and reduce their input costs. It will be good for the housekeeping staff as it will generate income from the sale of recyclable material which can be used for their welfare. The only thing required is a little effort from our side. So lets join hands to make this a reality.

So if you live in an apartment complex and want to implement this there, get in touch with me. If you know anyone who is willing to take this up, get me contacted to that person. And if you want to be a part of this project but don’t live in an apartment, there is still a lot you can do, so get in touch with me. You can call me at +91-9916532966 or ping me online.

Current Status – Step 1 and 2 have been done in many (8+) apartments and all steps (till step 7) in around 5-6 apartments. Kudos to all those involved!!

What can we do about our waste?

This is my third post on my “No Waste” initiative. Do read “What happens to our waste?” if you have not already done so. In this post, I will list out the eco-friendly ways we can dispose off our waste so that all the harmful effects can be minimized. They are very easy to implement, and can generate revenue and employment for people too!! Some of the most important things to know about waste management are –

1. Segregation at source – Segregation at source means separating our waste into dry, wet and toxic waste at the source. Which would mean keeping the dry waste (paper, plastic, glass) separate from the wet waste (leftover food, fruit peels, other kitchen waste) and toxic waste (medical waste, e-waste). When we separate our waste and store it separately, it becomes very easy for the next step to kick in. Dry waste can be recycled and reused, Wet waste can be turned into compost and all toxic waste can be disposed off safely. When all these are mixed, neither recycling nor composting can happen and we end up polluting our atmosphere, soil and ground water.

2. Recycling of Dry Waste – Dry waste (paper, plastic, glass) must be further segregated after which they can be sold to the recyclers who will recycle the materials. But as this is only possible if we properly segregate all dry waste, making segregation the key. This sale of dry waste can generate some income for the household, in addition to the fact that this waste will now be recycled and not just dumped in landfills.

3. Composting of Wet Waste – All wet waste (kitchen waste, left over food) can be turned into nutrient rich manure by a process called composting. Composting is the natural decomposition of food waste into manure which can be mixed with the soil to enrich it. It can be used in our home gardens, thus preventing our expense on fertilizers and chemicals.

What can I do about waste?

View more presentations from Sumit Gupta.

As you would have seen, if we implement the above steps in our households, we can reduce the waste going out to landfills totally (or by 80-90% atleast). Thats why the term “No Waste“. And yes, it is that simple. Nothing complex. And its a win win situation for all. It will generate employment for people involved in waste collection and recycling, generate income from the waste sold, prevent the expenditure on fertilizers and reduce the waste going out to landfills drastically, thus resulting in a greener planet.

The only thing required here is an initiative to educate people about this and implement this. It has already been successfully implemented in a few places in Bangalore, like Diamond District, Sadashivanagar, Christ College, etc. I am working on a “Call to Action” plan and will be out with it shortly which will give the opportunity to like minded citizens to take bold leadership initiatives in their localities/apartments to implement a “No Waste” plan and do their bit in proper waste disposal.

She is a Woman

We blame her for being emotional,

And we make fun when she cry!

But we forget she is the reason,

Most times our face is lit up by a smile!!

We have never given her ,

The place in society she deserved!

Yet she makes sure that everyone,

Feels taken care of and loved!!

We often blame her,

When she gets mad for small things!

It’s only due to her knack for perfection ,

That many a men have prospered like they have wings!!

We say we don’t like it,

When she disrupts our game of soccer!

But lets be honest and acknowledge,

We love it when she growls in anger!!

We want her to love us,

Like we are Salman Khan!

While Salman has six packs to show,

Our belly resembles the sand dunes of Rajasthan!!

We often wonder,

Can’t she ever be quiet?

But to hear her voice when away,

We can keep everything aside!!

She is like the sudden rain,

Will make you wet, but with a tinge of warmth!!

We can say how much she loves us,

But can never really understand its depth!!

Because no matter how much,

We take pride in being a man!!

She is a woman my dear friend,

She is a Woman!!

Sumit Gupta – Deploy Yourself

How to find, nurture and unleash your most authentic self?

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