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NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India Looks Back At The 2018 Sanitation Champions
From L&T and NTPC to Gram Vikas, DHAN Foundation and Swachh Survekshan, the second ISC-FICCI Sanitation Awards recognised a wider group of people and organisations working towards a cleaner India
New Delhi: For NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India, the sanitation journey has always been about more than just building toilets. It has been about changing habits, improving access and getting communities, organisations and governments to work together. That larger picture was also visible at the second ISC-FICCI Sanitation Awards in 2018. The awards expanded their focus to recognise six different areas, including corporate initiatives, non-profit models, financial access, social enterprises, media and government initiatives. Now, as we look back, here are some of the names and initiatives that stood out that year.
Download The Full Report: ISC-FICCI Sanitation Awards 2018
L&T And NTPC Took Different Routes To Sanitation
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was recognised for its Integrated Community Development Programme in Rajasthan. The initiative worked in water-stressed areas and gradually expanded from watershed management to health, sanitation, education and skill-building. By 2017-18, the programme had facilitated 900 toilets. It also helped reduce average family spending on water-borne diseases and trained local plumbers and masons.
NTPC was recognised for scale and execution. Its work under the Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan focused on toilets in government schools, while it also worked on reviving a municipal solid waste processing plant in Varanasi. The programme had a direct impact on around 20 lakh schoolchildren. It also helped Varanasi move from 418th position in the 2014 Swachhta Sarvekshan to 32nd in 2017.
Gram Vikas Put Communities First
In the non-profit category, Gram Vikas was recognised for its MANTRA – Movement and Action Network for Transformation of Rural Areas initiative. The model used water and sanitation as an entry point for wider community development. Every household in participating villages built a toilet and bathing room, while village committees helped provide piped water. The numbers were significant. The programme had reached 75,000 families across 1,311 villages, benefiting more than 3.6 lakh people.
CEPT University was also recognised for its work in Maharashtra. Its ‘Beyond Toilets: Making cities ODF and ODF+’ programme worked across the sanitation chain in Wai and Sinnar, with a focus on sustaining ODF status and improving faecal sludge management.
Shelter Associates received special recognition for its use of data through its One Home One Toilet model. The programme used GIS, Google Earth and mobile technology to identify sanitation gaps and plan interventions. It had reached 3.5 lakh people and helped facilitate nearly 12,500 household toilets.
DHAN Foundation made finance part of the solution
DHAN Foundation won the recognition for Best Financial Accessibility Model in Sanitation for its SCALE UP initiative. The programme combined access to credit with awareness and behaviour change. It had impacted 1.89 lakh households across 13 states and facilitated credit worth ₹402 crore for safe water and sanitation infrastructure.
A Familiar Name For Banega Swachh India
The Special Recognition in Media category had a particularly strong connection with NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India. Vikram Chandra was recognised as an individual for his work in social programming and campaigns, including the Banega Swachh India campaign. The campaign, launched on September 25, 2014, focused on sanitation and hygiene and also took up issues such as open defecation, manual scavenging, waste and drainage. Initiatives such as ‘Swachhta Ki Pathshaalas’, ‘#Mere10Guz’ and ‘Maha-Cleanathon’ helped take the message to a wider audience.
Dainik Jagran received institutional recognition for its sanitation-focused work through Jagran Pehel. Its work included behaviour change programmes and Project Hope, which was carried out in partnership with Dettol Banega Swachh India to create women entrepreneurs and improve the availability of hygiene products in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Recognising People On The Ground, Too
The awards also highlighted individuals and government-led efforts. Mr D. Kannan, through Annai Septic Tank Cleaning in Tamil Nadu, was recognised for building a safe desludging business with trained workers and proper equipment. Dr Nipun Vinayak received individual recognition for his work in rural and urban sanitation. His approach focused on community participation and behaviour change, while he also played a role in defining ODF and strengthening sanitation communication.
Finally, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was recognised for Swachh Survekshan, the nationwide ranking exercise that encouraged cities to improve their sanitation performance. The 2018 survey covered 4,203 urban local bodies and received feedback from around 38 lakh citizens.
The 2018 awards were a reminder that India’s sanitation story had many contributors. For NDTV-Dettol Banega Swachh India, looking back at these champions also brings the focus back to the idea at the heart of the campaign: lasting change needs everyone to be part of the effort.
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.