There’s no challenge that Palak Gaur finds insurmountable today. After all, the 19-year-old has spearheaded the clean up of her ‘malin basti’, a small neighbourhood of 45 homes tucked away in a larger slum located on Baba Ghat, flanking the Ganges in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Last year in September, the youngster decided that she was no longer ‘okay’ with staying in a locality where rancid stench and heaps of rotting rubbish were such an intrinsic part of their everyday existence that it didn’t even bother the residents.
So, one day, she took charge by clearing out a large garbage dumping area just outside her home. It took around six hours and more than 20 trips, but she managed the job single-handedly. Despite her fervent appeals to the elders in the vicinity, no one came to her assistance that day, but for her younger sister Neeraj, who eventually joined in after finishing her chores, and a neighbour who lived adjacent to the dump.
“When I told a few people what I had in mind, they called me crazy,” says Palak recalling the incident, “I simply told them that I was not mad enough to be living in such unhygienic surroundings. I started working at 7 am and was done by lunch time. With a wicker basket, I took the garbage bit by bit to the dumpster 200 metres away. After I cleaned the place up, I warned everyone against throwing garbage there again.”
Tough life
Although her circumstances have not been the easiest, Palak has never shirked hard work. Her mother passed away when she was very young, and ever since, her father, Mahaveer Gaur, a vegetable vendor, has been a single parent to her and her sisters.
Naturally, making ends meet takes up a lot of the time and energy, but Palak and Neeraj take out time from housework and their studies to conduct extra classes for children in the area. “I am doing my masters in Hindi Literature and taking tuitions as well. My father earns around Rs 3,500 a month and my sister and I manage to make Rs 400 a month to help out,” she says.
Despite a packed day, Palak has consciously taken on the cleanliness cause. She was motivated to do this after she linked up with Shramik Bharti, a Kanpur-based non-profit organisation. Shramik Bharti works for causes like poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment and has so far reached out to nearly a million people living within the slums and lower-income neighbourhoods in and around Kanpur. Proper sanitation is critical not just to women’s health, but also their safety, which is why the organisation has been focusing on motivating communities to take action.
“We have been talking about concerns related to water, sanitation and hygiene with the support of WaterAid India, under the Central government’s Swachh Bharat Mission,” explains Rakesh Pandey, chief executive officer, Shramik Bharti, adding, “Through interactive meetings, we encourage people to take ownership of the cleanliness of their area. We have achieved remarkable results by developing leadership within the communities.”
One meeting transformed Palak from a quiet teenager to a young woman who was eager to bring change, whatever the cost. Even as she set the ball rolling by cleaning up the dumping ground outside her home – “I knew that changing the way we lived in ‘malin basti’ was not going to be possible for me alone,” she remarks. So she formed a nigrani (vigilance) group of 25, comprising 10 youths (four girls and six boys in the 15 to 25 age group), 10 children (in the 8 to 14 years age group) and five adults (two men and three women) “for guidance and support”. The committee is diligently working towards “stopping people from defecating in the open, by shaming, threatening, or warning them, whatever works”.
“We did try to convince people to use toilets, whether at home or a public facility, explaining to them how open defecation pollutes the environment and the water. But when that didn’t work, we decided to take some drastic measures.
A bunch of us wake up at 4 am and hide behind trees in the locality and even patrol a nearly four-kilometre stretch of the river bank where many slum dwellers go to relieve themselves. Those who were reluctant to mend their ways have been photographed and warned of a penalty slapped by government authorities, which has helped in curtailing this menace,” reveals Palak.
As people no longer found it easy to go for ablutions in the open, they were suddenly keen to find out how they could build a toilet at home. Palak jumped in to help them out by telling them about their entitlements under the government’s sanitation programme. It took her around three months but she visited each of the 45 families to egg them on to apply for aid to construct a toilet.
“There were many who still slammed the door on my face. It was annoying, but I kept calm," says Palak, whose father had a toilet constructed for his daughters 12 years back. Her patience did pay off as she has managed to get all the families to fill out the relevant forms, which she handed over to Shramik Bharti to be passed on to the municipal authorities. Consequently, there are working toilets in several homes while others are in the process of getting one built.
Due recognition
Her proactive approach has caught the attention of the district officials as well as the municipal corporation, with which she interacts regularly. In fact, local corporator Namita Kanojia has nominated Palak to be on the ward committee, too. Two significant positive outcomes of this have been the sanctioning of the construction of a half-built sewage line as well as a 10-seat community toilet.
Palak’s work doesn’t stop with her; her leadership has catalysed others to do their bit. For Divya, who studies in Class 2 and is on the basti’s vigilance committee, Palak is a true heroine.
“I understand that what she has asked us to do is beneficial for everyone and that’s why I follow her lead. We shoo those who want to defecate near the river bank. Nowadays no one defies us," she says proudly.
Though she dreams of completing her BEd and take up teaching, she will “pursue my mission to make people aware of the importance of hygiene and sanitation. I want to convert this ‘malin basti’ into a ‘model basti’, which is open defecation- free.”
WFS