President awards Nirmal Gram Puraskar to 21 Gram Panchayats & One Block Panchayat for making their Panchayats ‘Open Defecation Free’
Calls for Women and Self Help Groups as Ambassadors of Sanitation
Sanitation and clean environment basic needs of the people : Vilasrao Deshmukh

“Improved sanitation is regarded as a socio-cultural and economic yardstick for a nation,” thus said the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil while giving away the Nirmal Gram Puraskars for the year 2010-11 at Vigyan Bhavan here today. Over 800 awardees and invitees attended the award ceremony organized by Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation under the Union Ministry of Rural Development. The President felicitated the representatives of 21 Gram Panchayats and 1 Block Panchayat having attained the Nirmal status of being open defecation free. The awardees were presented a memento and scroll.

The President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil appreciated the efforts made by Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Rural Development for up-scaling Total Sanitation Campaign and achieving 70% sanitation coverage in rural India till date. In her address ,she said that Women and Self Help Groups, Mahila Samities may be further encouraged to take up activities for good sanitation and be assigned to play an increased role by making them the “Ambassadors of Sanitation”.

The President lamented the fact that inadequate sanitation facilities in the rural areas have resulted in many a rural people falling sick and therefore in order to ensure sustainable improvement of health, sanitation is crucial. She said that Panchayats have the potential to stimulate a revolution in village development and they must be encouraged to play a decisive role in this regard.

Union Minister for Rural Development, Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh while addressing the gathering said that lack of sanitation facilities are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries. Provision of sanitation and a clean environment are, therefore, vital to improve the health of our people, to reduce incidence of diseases and deaths. Sanitation has been called the last taboo but it is indeed the first chapter and the foundation of meaningful human development. The Minister said that the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) is a laudable initiative with tremendous potential to change the quality of life in our villages for the better. These awards have enabled the Panchayats to become role models in their areas of jurisdiction for achieving hundred per cent sanitation and have motivated other Panchayats in transforming into clean and healthy villages.

Mr. Deshmukh released a booklet on water security on this occasion. The Rural Development Minister highlighted some of the important steps taken up by the Government to strengthen the implementation of Total Sanitation Campaign such as increased budget allocation from Rs. 1200 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 1580 crore in 2010-11, increase in the assistance for school toilet from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 35,000 (Rs. 38,500 for hilly and difficult areas) and of Anganwadi Toilet from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 8,000 (Rs.10,000 for Hilly and Difficult Areas). He also mentioned that Department has prepared a Strategic Plan of Rural Sanitation upto the year 2022 through an intensive consultative process.

In her welcome address the Minister of State for Rural Development, Ms. Agatha Sangma expressed her gratitude to the President for her inspiration and called upon the award winners to carry the message of rural sanitation across the length and breadth of the country. Union Minister of State for Rural development Shri Sisir Adhikari and Shri Pradeep Jain “Aditya” also attended the ceremony. Secretary Department of Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation along with the Senior officials of the department and representatives from states were present on this occasion.

Ms. Suniho V. Zhimo, President of Zukhepu Gram Panchayat of Zunheboto district, Nagaland spoke on behalf of the award winning PRIs. She said that as elected Panchayati Raj functionaries it is their primary duty to make their areas hygienic, clean, livable and to instill confidence in the rural people by providing basic amenities for the community. Total Sanitation Campaign has given the panchayats a great opportunity to make people aware of the need of proper sanitary practices. On behalf of award winning PRIs, she assured that with the support of Union and State Governments, PRIs will carry the movement forward.

Nirmal Gram Puraskar is a comprehensive incentive based program which recognizes the efforts of Panchayati Raj institutions by giving cash awards to those PRIs which have attained full sanitation coverage and completely eliminated the practice of open defecation. Cash awards ranging between Rs.50,000 to Rs. 5 lakhs based on population is given to the Panchayati Raj Institutions to take up sanitation promotion. The project is being implemented in rural areas taking district as a unit of implementation. Sikkim has been the first Nirmal State in the country having achieved full sanitation coverage. The concept of Nirmal Gram Puraskar has been acclaimed internationally as a unique tool of social engineering and community mobilization and has helped a difficult program like rural sanitation to pick up. Since the introduction of NGP in 2004, the average coverage has gone up by about 7-8% every year.

******

AKT/BS
(Release ID :71208)