Rural Immersion Program

Indian Institute of Management – Indore

In Association with
Department of Panchayatiraj and Rural Development
State Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin),
Government of Madhya Pradesh

Technical Support
UNICEF

Field visit Report: 4th December to 9th December 2017

District: Mandsaur
Village: Khodana

Submitted by:

Group no: 103

Aayush Mathur
Abhijat Mittal
Ankita Koshta
Nupur Malhotra
1. Executive summary of field visit done: (half page)
Our team visited Khodana, a village in the Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh. The
village had 300+ households in total, with 2 schools (1 Primary and 1 secondary) and 1
Anganwadi. The village had been declared ODF in November 2016. Our objective was to
validate this claim made by the village. Based on visits to schools, aanganwadis and more
than 40 households, we tabulated our observations and identified various problems
within the village. There were toilets in almost 95% of the households. These were
primarily constructed last year in November and due to the incentive provided by the
SBM, which provided the households with toilets with Rs.12000 on successful validation.
Even then, some villagers were found defecating in the open. Solid and Liquid waste
management was non-existent, as solid waste was dumped without treatment and there
were blockages in flow of waste water. The village can be declared ODF as an extremely
small proportion of villagers defecate in the open, however its sustainability has to be
tested.

2. Primary data of village visited –

Village Khodana Population of 1500+

villages
Gram Panchayat Khodana Total Households 300+
Block Mandsaur Total ST Households Data not available
Total number of 2 Total SC households Data not available
schools
Total number of 1 Total OBC Data not available
Anganwadi centre households
Total number of 0
habitation in
village

3. Day 1
On the 5th December, we headed to the village at 6:30 am. We were accompanied by GRS
to the village and visited a lot of households on the way. It was impressive to see that
almost all the households had individual toilets. There were no water tanks to facilitate the
usage of the toilets. Villagers only had access to water pumps which were scarcely
distributed. Due to the difficulty in carrying the water every time from the pumps to the
toilets, some of them refrained from using the toilets and instead defecated openly.
We had a discussion with the villagers regarding the utility of the toilets, the government
initiative of Swachh Bharat and its importance. We found that people were aware of the
government schemes & the benefits of using toilets.
 Toilets found in almost all households

4. Day 2
We visited 22 households to check the status of toilets and solid and liquid waste
management. We found that there were toilets constructed in all households. All of them
were constructed in November 2016, during the ODF drive initiated by the village officials.
But after our field visit we found that among the households in the village, 5-10% people
still do not use the toilet. Most of them were old people. Old people were habituated in
open defecation and were unwilling to listen to outsiders.
Issues emerged during discussion with community sections regarding ODF sustainability
mechanism in districts- The main issue according to the villagers regarding ODF
sustainability was their habits and a fear, that the soak pit will fill up quickly if they used it
often. Another problem was the convenience they had, as they used to defecate near their
well, which was also where their cattle defecated, and thus they had easy access to water
and the convenience of handling both problems in one go only.

Solid and liquid waste in the village

5. Field visit Day 3 and 4
We conducted visits to more households as well as schools and anganwadi. The schools,
anganwadi centers had their own sanitary toilets and they were being used. The
anganwadi had soaps and system for washing hands also. But the school shared its space
for washing hands with the place where utencils are cleaned, as there was only one
water tanker present in the school. The soap was also not available and the village
officials claimed that the soap had to be issued from office for use in the lunch time, as
children used to misplace the soap. The toilet in the school was in a worse condition than
in the homes of people, probably because it was constructed way earlier. Solid waste was
burned and liquid waste was drained in the open drainage, away from classrooms. But
some of them were being overused and cleanliness was a major issue. As most of them
are in the public places, people get more chance to use these toilets instead of using their
own toilets. The school also lacked a wash basin for washing hands. The anganwadi had a
much better management than the school, although it didn’t have its own building.

Visits to schools and anganwadi

6. Final Plan presented to Community in village meeting

- Firstly, the village should have adequate water supply for the usage of the toilets.
- Schools should have cleaners for regular maintenance of the toilets.
- The district official should send a team regularly to keep a check on the ODF status of
the village.
- Appointment of more staff for the waste management department.
- Construction of bins for garbage collection
- The village officials should sensitivize the villagers regarding proper drainage and
instruct them not to dump litter and block the drains
- Appointment of sweepers in school and anganwadi center toilets.
- Imposition of the provision of Rs 500/- fine in case of OD incidents.
- Students from different colleges in MP should be sent to such villages to educate the
villagers and tribal people about cleanliness and hygiene. These students can also
help the village children in making informed decisions regarding aid provided by
government for higher education and about career options.
 Discussions with villagers

7. Key recommendations against objective of field visit

The village is ODF but it has a lot of problems in SLWM. For improving the current
condition, the final plan which has been recommended previously has to be implemented
efficiently.

8. Team learnings from field visit

As a team, we take pride to say that the RI program has been very useful for us and it will
also help us in future. It has given us the idea about the ground level reality of Indian
villages. We got the opportunity to work with the govt. officials and came to know about
different systems, stages and procedures through which our govt. works for sustainable
development. Moreover this visit has helped us to become more socially sensitive which
is our long term goal.

9. Individual learnings from field visit, Quotes from community

• We learnt that it is challenging to deal with problems it they are related to the mindset of
people and it is challenging for them to adapt. For people below poverty line building a
toilet doesn’t happen to be in the hierarchy of needs and wants for their level of disposable
income. They view the government transfer of Rs.12000 as a source of further income and
hence want to just get done with the inspection and get the money
• Another learning from the visit was getting awareness about the implementation of the
project at ground level. The government has tried to make use of the technology in a very
efficient manner, right from the beginning of the construction to the end where the proof
is to be given using Geo – tag technology. The community at large was aware of the health
effects from defecating in open yet they found the government’s scheme to be full of the
glitches and to be trusted upon. As there were cases where the individuals have built the
toilets but are not able to get the money from panchayat.
• The visit imparted the knowledge about how a programme is rolled out in rural context
and the ground realities of its implementation. Additionally, it also became clear that
community trust is very important to acceptance of any new policy within the community.
 Constant monitoring is also important to bridge the gap in policy formulation and
implementation at ground.
• The visit was truly an eye opener for us. By getting the opportunity to interact with atleast
a hundred villagers, we got to know their way of looking at things. Most of them agreed
that if given an option, they wouldn’t be in favour of open defecation. However, they were
still following the practice owing to the reasons enumerated above. Coming from the cities
that we all come from, such interactions are the only source for us to understand the rural
perspective and to contribute to their lives in our own ways.
• Apart from all this, the villagers were very hospitable towards us and co-operated with us
at all times.

10. One / two stories from village

During our walks, we found a man who was severely affected by the improper waste
management in the village. It was customary of people to dump their litter wherever they
pleased, since it was bio-degradable and could be used to provide nutrients to the soil.
One persons backyard became this dumping ground for several. We talked to the person
and understood his peril. Noted down all the information and instructed the village
officials to take action.
Annexure