16 Mar 2013

INDIA / SANITATION

Nearly half of India's 1.2 billion people don't have access to toilets, most notably in villages. The lack of sanitation is the cause of one in every ten deaths in India. Diseases cause billions of dollars in economic loss. WORLD BANK

Posted at: March 16, 2013 12:02 am

Duration: 06:02

Available in: SD, HD

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Full script

STORY: INDIA / SANITATION
TRT: 6:02
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / HINDI/ NATS

DATELINE: NOVEMBER 2012, HARYANA STATE AND HIMACHAL PRADESH STATE, INDIA

SHOTLIST:
1. Wide shot, men dancing on street
2. Med shot, groom with traditional headwear in a crowd
3. Wide shot, bride and relatives waiting in a house
4. Med shot, bride decorating the groom
5. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Babita Rani, bride:
"When my mother and my father decided about the marriage they had asked first whether there was a toilet at the groom's house. So now there is one."
6. Pan right, guests at buffet
7. Pan right, wedding gifts
8. Wide shot, wedding gifts
9. Wide shot, toilet
10. Wide shot, people on street, young man talking into cellphone
11. Wide shot, traffic
12. Wide shot, tractor in a village
13. Med shot, rural scene with carts drawn by bulls
14. Wide shot, woman working in a field
15. Wide shot, women riding on a simple cart 
16. Wide shot,, village from mountain perspective
17. Close up, mural on "no toilet no bride" campaign
18. Wide shot, campaign slogan on a wall,
19. Wide shot, campaign slogan on a wall
20. Wide shot, people entering office of commissioner
21. Close up, paper pile
22. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Sumeda Kataria, Deputy Commissioner
"Until 2008 when we started this total cleanliness drive, only 40percent of houses had toilets. 60 percent of the people were going out in the open. When we visited any village we would encounter a bad smell."
23. Wide shot, women walking through a village
24. Tracking shot, woman from behind walking
25. Wide shot, villagers and motivator gathering in a field
26. Close up, motivator stirring feces with a stick
27. Wide shot, villagers and motivator
28. SOUND-UP (Hindi) Praveen Verma Kumar, Sanitation Official
"And now I say this to the women.  Nowadays cellphones have cameras and people take pictures by hiding in the bushes, you probably read stories like that in the newspapers". 
29. Pan right, women listening
30. Wide shot, crowd in a field
31, Close up, men listening
32. Med shot, girls at school drill
33. Wide shot, students at a school drill
34. Med shot, girls praying
35. SOUND-UP (Hindi) Praveen Verma Kumar, Sanitation Official
"Children, when we go out in the open for defecation, then the virus and bacteria are brought back to us by flies. It is horrible. We eat these bacteria that flies leave on the food. When we defecate in the open, then flies sit on it. One fly has 6 legs and it will lift the weight of 1 milligram, so with 6 legs? Six milligram."
36. Tracking shot, motivator talking to children
37, Med shot, girls listening
38. Med shot, motivator talking 
39. Med shot, boys listening
40. Close up, toilet parts on a shop counter
41. Med shot, woman with toilet on a motorbike
42. Med shot, old man in his house
43. Wide shot, old man sitting on bed
44. Med shot, young man folding cloth
45. Med shot, man hammering stone
46. Pan right, young and old man working on masonry
47. SOUNDBITE (Hidni) Tula Ram Dheeman: 
"Those who own a toilet save time. The people who own toilets do not fall ill. If you don't have a toilet you feel embarrassed, because people talk about it.   You also have a problem when guests visit. Your guests would need to go outside in the open. But a lot of people don't do that anymore. Not having a toilet can become a problem. "
48. Med shot, man working on masonry
49. Wide shot, young and old man working on roof of a stone house
50. Close up, office setting with flower
51. Close up, sign with Hindi writing
52. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebha Kashyab, village president:
"If anybody goes out in the open to do their business, if anybody spreads any type of waste and dumps it, that person will be fined 1000 Rupees."
53. Close up, public sign with Hindi writing
54. Wide shot, woman standing on a roof
55. Wide shot, woman on roof pointing
56. Wide shot, mountainous area with houses
57. Med shot, nurse taking blood pressure
58. Close up, blood pressure indicator
59. SOUNDBITE (English) Seema Tomar, nurse:
"Before the sanitation drive we saw a lot of people coming in vomiting, people with diarrhea, cholera, black cough and such horrible diseases. The people defecated in the open and contaminated the water which they used for drinking. Bacteria and insects caused fatal diseases."
60. Close up, filling jug with water
61. Wide shot, woman lifting jug onto her head
62. Tracking shot, from behind, following woman with jug on her head

STORYLINE

It is a wedding celebration Indian style, 23 year old Manish Kumar is getting married to 20 year old Babita Rani. A lavish wedding in the Indian state of Haryana.

The bride's parents had a unique precondition for the wedding:

SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Babita Rani, Bride
"When my mother and my father decided about the marriage they had asked first whether there was a toilet at the groom's house. So now there is one."

A big wedding party and the expensive household items Babita's parents have provided were not enough to seal the deal.

To make himself worthy of the marriage, the groom had to provide a toilet in the couple's home. A matter of pride and dignity and an unlikely status symbol.
 
The fact is that there are more cell phones than toilets in India. Nearly half of India's 1.2 billion people don't have access to toilets - most notably in villages.

The lack of sanitation is the cause of one in every ten death in India. Diseases cause billions of dollars in economic loss - in part because there are so few toilets.

It's a cultural issue, not economic. Villagers have traditionally defecated in fields or other public spaces - and changing their behavior is a huge task.

Which is why "No toilet no bride" became a slogan, that adorns walls all over the country. Part of a larger "Total Sanitation" campaign by India's government.

SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Sumeda Kataria, Deputy Commissioner,
"Until 2008 when we started this total cleanliness drive, only 40% of houses had toilets. 60 percent of the people were going out in the open. When we visited any village we would encounter a bad smell."

The total cleanliness drive is a massive effort by the government to change the way Indians think about toilets. The initiative, supported by the World Bank, involves rather unusual tools.

Shaming the villagers, for example.

Praveen Kumar is a trained sanitation official who gets to the point:

"Good morning. Who did this?"

Of course nobody admits. What follows is a lesson in hygiene. On feces in the food chain. and on dignity in modern times.

SOUND-UP (Hindi) Praveen Verma Kumar, Sanitation Official
"And now I say this to the women.  Nowadays cellphones have cameras and people take pictures by hiding in the bushes, you probably read stories like that in the newspapers". 
 
And while the older generation might be reluctant to change habits, children receive hygiene lessons as part of the morning drill in schools.

SOUND-UP (Hindi) Praveen Verma Kumar, Sanitation Official
"Children, when we go out in the open for defecation, then the virus and bacteria are brought back to us by flies. It is horrible. We eat these bacteria that flies leave on the food. When we defecate in the open, then flies sit on it. One fly has 6 legs and it will lift the weight of 1 milligram, so with 6 legs? Six milligram."

Toilets are affordable for the majority of India's population. A porcelain model costs less than five dollars in stores across India. The cost for the structure of an outhouse varies with choice of material.

Jassi Ram Ji lives with his son Tula Ram Deheeman in a modest home. They can't afford luxuries, not even a TV set.

But they decided to spend money on an outhouse because nobody in the community can escape the peer pressure.

SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Tula Ram Deheeman, home owner:
"Those who own a toilet save time. The people who own toilets do not fall ill. If you don't have a toilet you feel embarrassed, because people talk about it. You also have a problem when guests visit. Your guests would need to go outside in the open. But a lot of people don't do that anymore. Not having a toilet can become a problem. "

Those who do not respond to peer pressure might pay a high price for non compliance.

Rebha Kashyab, a 34 year old village president in the state Himachal Pradesh, uses her legal power to keep the flies away from her village.

SOUNDBITE (English) Rebha Kashyab, Village President:
"If anybody goes out in the open to do their business, if anybody spreads any type of waste and dumps it, that person will be fined 1000 Rupees."

A steep fine amounting to almost 20 US dollars. Wherever you look in this village: each house has a toilet. A rare example of a community that has reached the Total Sanitation goal.

SOUNDBITE (English) Seema Tomar, nurse:
"Before the sanitation drive we saw a lot of people coming in vomiting, people with diarrhea, cholera, black cough and such horrible diseases. The people defecated in the open and contaminated the water which they used for drinking. Bacteria and insects caused fatal diseases."

Conditions that can still be found in many parts of the country. India's 2011 census counted 53% of households are still without a toilet or latrine. Despite years of campaigning - it is still a long path towards Total Sanitation.