Satyendra Kumar primarily reports on issues related to caste Satyendra Kumar’s commitment to end caste discrimination began when he witnessed upper caste members destroy a statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Dr. Ambedkar worked in the early to mid-twentieth century to end the caste system’s social discrimination. When Satyendra saw the police detaining and torturing Dalits who protested the statue’s destruction, he…

Satyendra

Share

How would you feel if you had to drain out buckets full of dirty drain water from your courtyard everyday? It sounds disgusting right? VV-PACS Correspondent Satyendra Kumar investigates how the blocked drainage system in Badagaon village, Mau district, Ratanpura block, Uttar Pradesh is making life difficult for it 150 residents. Today you can help to bring this community a safer and healthy environment. Call to Action: Help put pressure on the BDO to finalise the drainage system by calling: Tel: 9454464640 Now.    “The problem in our village is that there are no proper drains and there is no place for the water to flow.  There are a few basic drains but farmers have blocked them as the water was flowing into their fields and making their crops rot,” explains Sunil Chauhan, a resident.   Pramila Devi, another resident explains how the problem has been going on for over a month and what health problems have resulted because of it:   “We are feeling sick and getting all kinds of airborne diseases like fever, sore throat etc.”   The blocked drains have resulted in drinking water and drainage water getting mixed, leading to all sorts of illnesses.  Mosquitoes have taken prime spot on the flooded land and infection has increased.   20 residents with the assistance of the organization PIDTI petitioned to both the Village Head and Block Development Officer (BDO).  The Village Head’s reply was that he has no budget to fix the issue.   After having spoken to Satyendra we found out that the ex-Village Head is preventing the current weaker Village Head from implementing action due to political reasons.   Satyendra also said, “The BDO has promised to resolve the issue. He has asked the Village Head to inform him about budget requirements so he can allot money to construct the drains.  The BDO has also asked a surveyor to use government land and to build the drain. However a farmer who lays claim to the land is preventing the construction.”   Context: Two-thirds of Indian homes have no access to clean drinking water and four-fifths do not have adequate drainage systems to discharge wastewater. India is lagging over a decade behind its Millennium Development Goal targets as outlined in the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water and Sanitation (JMP) report released by UNICEF and WHO. India has stated that it will do all that it can to rectify this issue.  With regards to the state of Uttar Pradesh seen from Uttar Pradesh Urban Sanitation Policy, 2009the State also says that it is doing all it can to address the poor water and sanitation issues within its governing area. The Uttar Pradesh government aims to recruit 40,000 sanitation workers within the next few years to help minimize the burden on current staff.  The state budget has been doubled from 1,500 croreINR to 3,500 crore INR since 2011.  A proposal of 44,116 crore INR for sanitation and 1,22,570 crore INR for drinking water has also been proposed.  Given India’s vastness and institutionalised corruption the task at hand is huge.   There are however individuals who have brought great change into their communities as can be seen from past VV Community Correspondents activism work and from other sources as well.   About the Partnership: The Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme and Video Volunteers have come together to create the Community Correspondents Network. The videos generated by the network will be able to highlight voices from the margins, providing skills to social communicators to provide advocacy tools to community based organizations.   Watch more videos like this below: http://www.videovolunteers.org/residents-troubled-open-drains/ http://www.videovolunteers.org/choked-drain-suffering-residents/ http://www.videovolunteers.org/sanitation-drain/ http://www.videovolunteers.org/the-drain-that-drowned-the-village/ http://www.videovolunteers.org/ostracised-leper-colony-demands-sanitation/