Personally I feel we should not be measuring how many people are using toilets or not as this changes on a daily basis and a village declared ODF today may not be in a few months time. The monitoring is problematic and when officers and other monitors are being pushed to achieve targets we run the risk of false data.

I think instead the measuring tool should be water usage vs. wastewater treatment as that cleans up the environment and automatically means bathrooms and toilets must exist. Trying to do this will have a greater impact on livelyhood and health than anything else.

ODF related issues
Rat race for ODF blocks and districts and not villages and gram panchayats: I heard that in one district, there was a meeting to assess the progress of ODF gram panchayats. But the discussion was around how many blocks can be declared open defecation free. They want to be part of the state’s decision to declare 15 blocks ODF on 15th August. Thank God, the state mission avoided 15 districts to be declared and the centre is not planning 15 states. In this rat race to declare blocks open defecation free, they forget gram Panchayat which is the smallest unit. In this process gram Panchayat is not anywhere, people are nowhere while administration everywhere talks about ODF Panchayat.
Very often verifications are thrust upon gram panchayats by the blocks and districts. It is district administration who wants Pachayats to be declared ODF and not the people in the panchayats. Even the verification team is adequately trained. Somehow the guideline is bye-passed to achieve the political mileage of declaring number of ODF pachayats and blocks. Again it is a number game. I wonder whether ODF will go the NGP way after 2019. Probably the next government at the centre will come out with another 3 letter word and another mile stone and with additional incentive.

Delighted to be here. Warm welcome to everyone, and look forward to some great discussions and debates.

Click on the link below (also attached)

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We have all read this, haven't we? www.mdws.gov.in/sites/default/files/R_274_1441280478318.pdf

The definition is sacrosanct, and suggestive indicators in form a model checklist has been drawn up. States have the flexibility to modify the indicators and come up with a mechanism to verify. How is is that working ?