Promod Puri's Blog: Hinduism:beyond rituals,customs and traditions, page 110

From The Pen Of Baba Bulleh Shah

Parh parh Alam te faazil hoya Te kaday apnay aap nu parhya ee na Translation: You read to become all knowledgeable But you never read yourself You read so many books to know it all, yet fail to eve…

Source: From The Pen Of Baba Bulleh Shah

Why it’s easier for India to get to Mars than to tackle its toilet challenge

By Shyami V. Ramani In 2013, India became the fourth country in the world (after Russia, the United States and the European Union) and the only emerging nation to launch a Mars probe into space. Bu…

Source: Why it’s easier for India to get to Mars than to tackle its toilet challenge

From The Pen Of Baba Bulleh Shah

Parh parh Alam te faazil hoya Te kaday apnay aap nu parhya ee na Translation: You read to become all knowledgeable But you never read yourself You read so many books to know it all, yet fail to eve…

Source: From The Pen Of Baba Bulleh Shah

From The Pen Of Baba Bulleh Shah

Bulleh Shah

Parh parh Alam te faazil hoya

Te kaday apnay aap nu parhya ee na

Translation: You read to become

all knowledgeable

But you never read yourself

You read so many books

to know it all,

yet fail to ever read your

heart at all.

Bhaj bhaj warna ay mandir maseeti

Te kaday mann apnay wich warya ee na

You run to enter temples and mosques

But you never entered your own heart)

You rush to holy shrines to play a part,

Would you dare enter the shrine of your heart

Larna ay roz shaitaan de naal

Te kadi nafs apnay naal larya ee na

(Everyday you fight Satan

But you never fight your own Ego)

You are quick to attack the evil one,

yet pride is a battle you have not won.

Bulleh Shah asmaani ud-deya pharonda ay

Te jera ghar betha unoon pharya ee na

Bulleh Shah you try grabbing that which is in the sky

But you never get hold of What sits inside you

Why it’s easier for India to get to Mars than to tackle its toilet challenge

By Shyami V. Ramani

In 2013, India became the fourth country in the world (after Russia, the United States and the European Union) and the only emerging nation to launch a Mars probe into space. But it remains part of the group of 45 developing countries with less than 50% sanitation coverage, with many citizens practising open defecation, either due to lack of access to a toilet or because of personal preference.

According to the Indian census of 2011, only 46.9% of the 246.6 million households in India had their own toilet facilities, while 3.2% had access to public toilets. In this context, the remaining 49.8% households had no option but to defecate in the open. As a point of comparison, in 2011 53.2% of households had a mobile phone. In rural areas, where nearly 69% of India’s population lives, 69.3% of households lack toilets; in urban areas that number falls to 18.6%.

At first glance, such statistics and technological capabilities alongside large-scale open defecation is a puzzle. On the supply side, it does not seem difficult for a country that can construct sophisticated and complex cell phone technology to develop the capacity to build simple low-cost toilets. And for users, a toilet evidently offers more social benefits in terms of health and human dignity than a telephone.

Yet the citizenry has not enthusiastically adopted low-cost toilets, especially rural households. Why? Let us explore the reasons for this paradoxical outcome.

At a systemic level, economists have pointed out that technical and commercial availability and consumer acceptability of an innovation are the two main drivers of its diffusion. Evidently both are a problem in India.

For firms, it makes business sense to provide mobile phones in a variety of quality-price ranges as the network infrastructure is well developed and demand for this communication tool is assured. However, they are not interested in selling low-cost toilets to the poor, as the need for that product is not supported by a willingness or capacity to pay for it.

State programmes for sanitation coverage

Because companies are disinclined to market a product that requires investment in awareness and demand creation, the state must step in.

From the mid-1980s till the late 1990s, when India adopted economic reform, toilets were distributed free via the top-down state-funded Central Rural Sanitation Programme. But the programme, which assumed that availability would automatically lead to usage, failed because most beneficiaries did not see the need or have the desire for sanitation.

Consequently, in the new millennium, the Indian government switched to demand-focused interventions. Today, the state is a financier for public-private partnerships involving NGOs, micro-finance companies and other social enterprises that interact closely with the targeted beneficiaries to provide accompaniment and education for sanitation literacy and use.

The Total Sanitation Campaign launched in April 1999, emphasised that “Information, Education and Communication” should precede sanitation construction to ensure sustained demand and behavioural change.

State investment in sanitation thereafter received another fillip under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is the first politician since Mahatma Gandhi to emphatically underscore, through major media campaigns, that a “clean India” is necessary for the well-being of its citizens.

Modi during a cleanliness drive in Assi Ghat Varanasi

 

On October 2 2014, to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, Modi inaugurated the Swachh Bharath Mission, or the Clean India Mission. Unlike the earlier state programmes, it recognises that “availability” does not guarantee “acceptability”. The central objective of the mission is to eliminate open defecation in India by 2019, not just to ensure universal sanitation coverage.

The target is to transform villages and cities into “open defecation-free” communities, meaning they demonstrate: toilet access, toilet use and toilet technology that keeps both people and the environment safe. The programme invests in capacity building in the form of trained personnel, financial incentives and systems for planning and monitoring to ensure behavioural change. States are given flexibility in terms of implementation. Today, a variety of experiments, from the national to village level, are underway to achieve Modi’s Clean India mission.

It’s not just about building toilets

But for India, providing access to some form of a toilet is the easy part. What’s harder is getting people to use them. In rural areas, toilet-rejection varies by gender.

An ongoing study based on 300 focus groups with men across the country revealed that they prefer open defecation to a toilet because it: saves water; provides access to fresh water and a breezy environment; lowers the wear and tear of the toilet; protects women from getting embarrassed by the sight of men; and offers a handy excuse to escape importunate wives and mothers.

Public agencies try to persuade families to invest in toilets for the safety of their young girls. But in Tamil Nadu villages, another focus group-based study – this one with female teachers and girls – revealed that a central advantage of open defecation is that it offers opportunities for same-sex social interactions for females.

Girls and women in many regions are not allowed to gather in public places to debate issues, exchange ideas or simply relax together. Adolescents face even greater restrictions, because older women often sanction free discussion among youngsters. In this regard, open defecation rendezvous offer an excuse to talk and spend time together free, from other constraints.

In the isolated villages we visited with largely Dalit and fisherfolk populations in Tamil Nadu, the risk of sexual harassment is not perceived to be high enough to make toilets a safe haven. Thus, to eliminate open defecation in such villages, alternative safe gendered spaces for social interactions are needed first.

Cooperation between the players

India’s additional challenge is to diffuse not just any toilet but a high-quality, long-lasting, non-contaminating product that minimises water and soil pollution and promotes sustained use. This will require that the sanitation subsystem (i.e. the part under the toilet seat/slab), and its waste-processing technology design to be adapted to the geo-physical features of the targeted zone, taking into account soil type, rainfall, water table, water availability, wind velocity and slope.

Thousands of toilets lie abandoned in India either never used or abandoned after short use, due to poor construction quality or inappropriate technology design.

When a toilet’s superstructure begins to deteriorate or the toilets stop working well, problems can emerge. For example, if the family can’t afford or doesn’t want to invest in repairs, or if there isn’t a local agency to repair toilets (which is often the case), foul odours and leaks may begin. This, in turn, creates negative perceptions about toilets, which may trigger a bandwagon effect such that whole the community ultimately returns to open defecation.

Thus, it is imperative to ensure quality construction in sanitation drives and trained rural masons for individual construction initiatives.

A Tamil woman and her mother-in-law in front of their toilet whose roof caved in – hence the thatch. FAL

To address this need, various institutions are teaching masonry to youth with little formal education. But there is no common standardised programme that focuses on sanitation systems. Moreover, illiterate rural masons may be intimidated by formal courses and thus fail to attend.

At the same time, since masons learn their craft by doing, or through apprenticeships, their learning is slow, shaky and tacit – meaning that two people with the same skill set may execute a project differently. There is a need to address these issues while promoting skills building.

For an emerging country like India, it is easier to take part in exploratory missions to Mars than to tackle its sanitation challenge. The former can be addressed through a linear process spearheaded by the advanced, well-resourced Indian Space Research Organisation, while the latter calls for systemic change encompassing thousands of towns and villages.

For India to meet its goal of eliminating open defecation, it will need cooperation and coordination between a diverse variety of systemic actors, generation of knowledge products in the form of accessible curriculum for masons, and community engagement to build only safe toilets – and to use them well.

WORDS OF WISDOM:

“In the United States, we know what happens when we start dividing ourselves along lines of race or religion or ethnicity. It’s dangerous,” he said. Not just for the minority groups that are subjec…

Source: WORDS OF WISDOM:

Museum Of Sikh History

By Promod Puri

The place is called Virasat-E-Khalsa. It is also known as Khalsa Heritage Complex. But for the local and ordinary folks the unique monument in Anandpur Sahib near Chandigarh is simply known as “Ajuba”. And it certainly is a wonder.

With the help of latest in sound and information technology along with impressive architect influenced by the surrounding historic structures in Anandpur Sahib, the place is really an awesome marvel.

It is much more than just a tourist attraction. It is a place of knowledge and inspiration presented in concise and easy steps as one walks along the galleries of the museum.

Massive and colorful murals portray the heroic and vibrant history of Sikhs under the leadership of their gurus. The whole learning experience is guided by “auto-trigger” headphone with crisp commentators’ voice that it is indeed an absorbing class in Sikh history.”This museum aims at illuminating the vision of Sikh Gurus”.

Impressively designed by Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, the museum along with the surrounding water pools is spread over an area of 65 acres. It is almost walking distance from the historic Ananadpur Sahib Gurdwara, the birth place of the Khalsa Panth.

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WORDS OF WISDOM:

“In the United States, we know what happens when we start dividing ourselves along lines of race or religion or ethnicity. It’s dangerous,” he said. Not just for the minority groups that are subjected to that kind of discrimination or, in some cases in the past violence, but because we don’t then realize our potential as a country when we’re preventing blacks or Latinos or Asians or gays or women from fully participating in the project of building American life.”

The increasing pain felt by working people had led to a growing suspicion of elites and governing institutions. And that sometimes gets wrapped up in issues of ethnic identity or religious identity or cultural identity and that can be a volatile mix”.

American Election Scene

Let us dump Trump and not see his face again.

With American politics at an all-time low, it’s no wonder that game developers are taking to their art to express their discontent with the presidential race. The last time we had a presidential race, social media wasn’t nearly as popular as it is today, but now I see Donald Trump all over my newsfeed on Twitter and Facebook. So it’s no wonder that Trump has also leaked into the video game world. Trump Dump is a mobile game that lets those take their anger out on Trump.

Trump Dump works a lot like Flappy Bird, except…backwards. In Flappy Bird, you tap the screen to bounce the bird upwards, but in Trump Dump, you tap the screen to bounce the bird downwards. It feels really weird at first and makes gameplay pretty difficult. The trick is to get through the hole in the wall. Once you finally make it through the hole, you get the opportunity to drop a dump on Trump. Check out the gameplay below.

“NANAK DUKHIYA SABB SANSAR SO SUKHIYA JIS NAAM ADHAAR”

A universal truth

Agony, misery, pains or sufferings, both physical and emotional, and in all degrees of intensity, are the realities of life. These are the experiences faced by all without exception. Life means jitters of distress, grief and worries going along with moments of peace and pleasures.

Stresses and strains in our lives for one reason or the other give enough turbulence as smooth ride remains an ambition.

Unpleasant realities are littered all along the journey of life, and there is no escape from them. The sufferings could be innocently or naively self-inflicted or by others. Elements of nature and karmas have influences as well.

So, who resides in absolute peace. Unquestionably, nobody.

Since we can not shake them off, we redefine peace where tensions and sufferings are accepted as part of the game plan of life.

In this exercise, as one seeks the serenity and tranquility in a field shared by torments and troubles, a practical understanding of that guiding force from whom we often seek answers to our whys, is worth attempting. Here, the line “so sukhiya jis naam adhaar” needs some interpretation in line with the practical approach.

The guiding force we are talking about is the Eternal Spirit which in the first place advises us to accept the adversity.

Nanak calls it “hukam razaai”, meaning acceptance (razaai) of the Order (hukam) of the Supreme. The Order prepares us to tackle a calamity with cool mind effectively and decisively. In this acceptance we don’t agitate or get scared.

Miracles from that Eternal Spirit need not be expected, but what is expected is the courage and strength to tackle suffering with grace and dignity.

The utmost and unshaken faith in our resolve to accept, face and tackle unfortunate circumstances leads us to a perception of the Supreme power which demands action.

The nature of this perception encourages us to respond to an unpleasant event. That is where God can be redefined in terms of action. When we seek or gather courage and strength to handle any calamity or suffering that very activity itself is god in live manifestation.

And once that foundation (adhaar), meaning God in the image of action, is created and secured one can get inspired to be in His (naam) peaceful (sukhiya) abode.

It is true “Nanak dukhiya sabb sansar”, but it is also true “so sukhiya jis naam adhaar”.

-By Promod Puri

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