Venkatesh Nayak, Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi, has written an essay, "Sexual crimes against women and claims of Nirmal Bharat Campaign - How good is the MIS data?" exploring the data implications of the recent and widely publicized issue of sexual violence against lower caste women in India. That essay follows. The issue of data has significantly broader implications for policy; those implications are well underscored in this work.
(Pix (c) Larry Catá Backer 2014)
Interestingly, some Indian commentators have noted the reluctance to query the effects of caste and caste-culture on the issue of sexual violence, especially where the women are low caste and the men of higher caste. This is a topic remains a sensitive topic in India; one might draw at least weak parallels to sensitivity in the United States toward class issues. Thus, for example, the U.N. condemnation of the sexual violence was criticized in some quarters for its failures to mention caste. See Joint statement, United Nations condemns gang-rape and murder of teenage girls in Uttar Pradesh and calls for justice, Statement by Lise Grande, United Nations
Resident Coordinator; Dr Rebecca R Tavares, Representative, UN Women’s
India Multi Country Office and Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF
Representative to India (June 1, 2014).
"Sexual crimes against women and claims of Nirmal Bharat Campaign - How good is the MIS data?"
Venkatesh Nayak
Programme Coordinator
Access to Information Programme
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
The last few weeks have
mutely witnessed several horrific rapes and murders of women across
India. Police response is said to have ranged from apathy and inaction
to complete hostility towards the complainants, sufferers of violence
('victims' would be a pejorative label thrust upon them) and their
families. While many of us read such news items in passing, others are
protesting in their own way either before the corridors of power or
venting their righteous anger through the media. The keepers of the law
like the proverbial ass are tardy in their response. In at least one
case rather than take action against the accused and the police who were
either perpetrators of such crimes or refused to take immediate action,
letters are being exchanged clarifying the caste identity of the
sufferers. So one must carry a caste certificate in hand to claim
justice in some parts of the country. Meanwhile the accused are said to
have threatened the families of the sufferers with dire consequences
once the media glare is switched off. This makes a sinister mockery of
the promise of justice for all made in the Preamble of the Constitution.
Justice system is repeatedly failing to protect the most vulnerable and
the most disadvantaged people in society.
One common thread that seems to link some of these
incidents of sexual violence is the lack of toilet facilities which
resulted in several girls and women being targeted in such a brutal
manner. Under the Nirmal Bharat Adbhiyan-NBA (Total Sanitation
Campaign-TSC) targets have been set for providing sanitation facilities
to rural homes and schools in every village across India. A Management
Information System (MIS) has been set up by the Government of India
through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to disclose
publicly the progress made in implementing this flagship scheme. What
does official data available online at http://tsc.gov.in say?
Badaun gang rape case (Uttar Pradesh):
The
two girls in Badaun who were raped and murdered a few days ago had
ventured out to relieve themselves as their house did not have a toilet
facility. The Indian Express has carried an investigative story about
the status of toilet facilities in village Katra Shahadatganj of Badaun
district of Uttar Pradesh: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/badaun-gangrape-why-the-badaun-girls-didnt-have-a-toilet-they-could-call-their-own/
When I looked up the status of implementation of
NBA-TCS in Katra SadatGanj village this is what the website displayed
today. According to the Governemnt's own baseline survey, 172 below the
poverty line households (BPL) households did not have toilets before the
implementation of NBA-TSC. By November 2011, 178 toilets are said to
have been constructed for BPL families. 80% of the above poverty line
(APL) households still lacked sanitation facilities. What happened for
the next two years in this village is not captured on this MIS:
| Report Card status of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) as on 3 /6/2014 | |||
| State :- UTTAR PRADESH | District :- BUDAUN | Block Name :- USAWAN | GP Name :- KATRA SADATGANJ |
| Status of Nirmal Gram Puraskar | Never Applied | ||
| Panchayat Status of Baseline survey (BLS) | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | With Toilet | Without Toilet | Total |
| 1 | Total Households | 59 | 382 | 441 |
| 2 | Total SC HH | - | - | 99 |
| 3 | Total ST HH | - | - | 0 |
| 4 | Total General HH | - | - | 342 |
| 5 | Total BPL HH (with & without toilet) | 2 | 172 | 174 |
| 6 | Total APL HH (with & without toilet) | 57 | 210 | 267 |
| 7 | Total Schools (with & without toilet) | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 8 | Total Anganwadi (with & without toilet) | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Total Sanitary Complex (with & without toilet) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Panchayat status (not having toilets) progress received upto 11/2011 | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | Target(As/BLS) | Achievement | Details |
| 1 | IHHL BPL (without toilet) | 172 | 178 | 178 |
| 2 | IHHL APL (without toilet) | 210 | 43 | |
| 3 | No. of Household using Community Tlt | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | IHHL TOTAL (without toilet+No.of HH using Community Tlt) | 382 | 221 | |
| 5 | School Toilets | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| 6 | Anganwadi Toilets | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Sanitary Complex | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| IHHL: Individual Household Latrine, BPL:Below Poverty Line, APL:Above Poverty Line, HH:Household,SC:Schedule Caste, ST:Schedule Tribe | ||||
The Indian Express story is borne out by the Government's own official data.
Bhagana village multiple rape case (Haryana):
On March 25, 2014 four young dalit women in Bhagana were said
to have been abducted and raped when thy ventured out to the fields to
relieve themselves. See story at: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/rape-allegations-in-a-haryana-village-underscore-a-social-fracas/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
When I looked up the status of implementation of
NBA-TSC in Bhagana village of Hisar district this is what the website
displays- All 792 households have been provided sanitation facilities as
far back in March 2012.
| Report Card status of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) as on 3 /6/2014 | |||
| State :- HARYANA | District :- HISAR | Block Name :- HISAR-I | GP Name :- BHAGANA |
| Status of Nirmal Gram Puraskar | Never Applied | ||
| Panchayat Status of Baseline survey (BLS) | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | With Toilet | Without Toilet | Total |
| 1 | Total Households | 360 | 792 | 1152 |
| 2 | Total SC HH | - | - | 270 |
| 3 | Total ST HH | - | - | 0 |
| 4 | Total General HH | - | - | 882 |
| 5 | Total BPL HH (with & without toilet) | 7 | 446 | 453 |
| 6 | Total APL HH (with & without toilet) | 353 | 346 | 699 |
| 7 | Total Schools (with & without toilet) | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | Total Anganwadi (with & without toilet) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Total Sanitary Complex (with & without toilet) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Panchayat status (not having toilets) progress received upto 03/2012 | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | Target(As/BLS) | Achievement | Details |
| 1 | IHHL BPL (without toilet) | 446 | 446 | 466 |
| 2 | IHHL APL (without toilet) | 346 | 346 | |
| 3 | No. of Household using Community Tlt | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | IHHL TOTAL (without toilet+No.of HH using Community Tlt) | 792 | 792 | |
| 5 | School Toilets | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Anganwadi Toilets | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Sanitary Complex | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IHHL: Individual Household Latrine, BPL:Below Poverty Line, APL:Above Poverty Line, HH:Household,SC:Schedule Caste, ST:Schedule Tribe | ||||
It is obvious that women who suffered rape are speaking the truth. So the MIS data becomes a piece of cruel fiction.
Urauli attempt to rape and life-threatening assault case:
In February 2011 a 17 year old Dalit girl of Urauli village of
Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh who went to relive herself in the
fields was attacked. When she resisted she was butally hacked. The story
is available at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/up-limbs-of-girl-chopped-off-for-resisting-rape/1/128979.html
When I looked up the status of implementation of
NBA-TSC in Urauli village of Fatehpur district this is what the website
displays: 108 BPL families did not have had toilet facilities. when the
baseline survey was conducted. In 2011 only 8 BPL families had toilet
facilities constructed- less than 10% of the target had been achieved.
The current status of the efforts is not known.
| Report Card status of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) as on 3 /6/2014 | |||
| State :- UTTAR PRADESH | District :- FATEHPUR | Block Name :- ASOTHAR | GP Name :- URAULI |
| Status of Nirmal Gram Puraskar | Never Applied | ||
| Panchayat Status of Baseline survey (BLS) | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | With Toilet | Without Toilet | Total |
| 1 | Total Households | 36 | 207 | 243 |
| 2 | Total SC HH | - | - | 68 |
| 3 | Total ST HH | - | - | 0 |
| 4 | Total General HH | - | - | 175 |
| 5 | Total BPL HH (with & without toilet) | 27 | 108 | 135 |
| 6 | Total APL HH (with & without toilet) | 9 | 99 | 108 |
| 7 | Total Schools (with & without toilet) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Total Anganwadi (with & without toilet) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Total Sanitary Complex (with & without toilet) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Panchayat status (not having toilets) progress received upto 04/2011 | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | Target(As/BLS) | Achievement | Details |
| 1 | IHHL BPL (without toilet) | 108 | 8 | 0 |
| 2 | IHHL APL (without toilet) | 99 | 20 | |
| 3 | No. of Household using Community Tlt | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | IHHL TOTAL (without toilet+No.of HH using Community Tlt) | 207 | 28 | |
| 5 | School Toilets | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Anganwadi Toilets | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Sanitary Complex | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IHHL: Individual Household Latrine, BPL:Below Poverty Line, APL:Above Poverty Line, HH:Household,SC:Schedule Caste, ST:Schedule Tribe | ||||
Tikamgarh attempt to rape case:
In
February 2013, a 10 year old dalit girl was said to have been attacked
and sexually assaulted went to the fields to relive herself in Madumar
village of Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh. You may read the story
at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Without-toilets-Madhya-Pradesh-women-are-more-unsafe/articleshow/18437155.cms
When I looked up the status of implementation of
NBA-TSC in Madumar village of Tikamgarh district this is what the
website displays: 460 families did not have toilet facilities whent he
baseline survey was conducted. Of these 78 were BPL families. In 2011
only 20 toilets had been constructed - all for APAL families. The
current status of the efforts is not known.
| Report Card status of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) as on 3 /6/2014 | |||
| State :- MADHYA PRADESH | District :- TIKAMGARH | Block Name :- TIKAMGARH | GP Name :- MADUMAR |
| Status of Nirmal Gram Puraskar | Never Applied | ||
| Panchayat Status of Baseline survey (BLS) | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | With Toilet | Without Toilet | Total |
| 1 | Total Households | 0 | 460 | 460 |
| 2 | Total SC HH | - | - | 167 |
| 3 | Total ST HH | - | - | 3 |
| 4 | Total General HH | - | - | 290 |
| 5 | Total BPL HH (with & without toilet) | 0 | 78 | 78 |
| 6 | Total APL HH (with & without toilet) | 0 | 382 | 382 |
| 7 | Total Schools (with & without toilet) | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | Total Anganwadi (with & without toilet) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Total Sanitary Complex (with & without toilet) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Panchayat status (not having toilets) progress received upto 06/2011 | ||||
| SL.No. | Components | Target(As/BLS) | Achievement | Details |
| 1 | IHHL BPL (without toilet) | 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | IHHL APL (without toilet) | 382 | 20 | |
| 3 | No. of Household using Community Tlt | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | IHHL TOTAL (without toilet+No.of HH using Community Tlt) | 460 | 20 | |
| 5 | School Toilets | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Anganwadi Toilets | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Sanitary Complex | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IHHL: Individual Household Latrine, BPL:Below Poverty Line, APL:Above Poverty Line, HH:Household,SC:Schedule Caste, ST:Schedule Tribe | ||||
Verifications
against other such cases of sexual assault may reveal similar results-
the data is either lying or simply not updated and made available.
In reply to questions raised in the Lok Sabha, in
February this year, about the status of toilet facilities in across the
country, the Central Government stated that almost 60% rural
households across the country did not have toilet facilities according
to a baseline survey conducted in 2012. Amongst States where the
survey had been completed Bihar topped the list with almost 80% of the
rural households not having toilet facilities. The figures presented in
the Lok Sabha are given below (http://164.100.47.132/Annexture_New/lsq15/15/au4240.htm):
"State/UT-wise % households with toilet as per Baseline Survey 2012
| ||
S.N.
|
State/UT
|
% Households with toilet
|
1
|
54.77
| |
2
|
30.86
| |
3
|
41.53
| |
4
|
42.80
| |
5
|
21.41
| |
6
|
39.57
| |
7
|
60.72
| |
8
|
52.79
| |
9
|
75.10
| |
10
|
86.04
| |
11
|
25.76
| |
12
|
27.71
| |
13
|
35.41
| |
14
|
94.68
| |
15
|
26.27
| |
16
|
48.01
| |
17
|
51.28
| |
18
|
52.23
| |
19
|
77.95
| |
20
|
49.78
| |
21
|
1.70
| |
22
|
75.17
| |
23
|
27.29
| |
24
|
81.55
| |
25
|
44.79
| |
26
|
62.60
| |
27
|
35.22
| |
28
|
67.14
| |
29
|
55.31
| |
Total :-
|
40.39
| |
* In the States of Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Orissa, Baseline Survey is incomplete"
| ||
According
to data available on the NBA-TSC website close to Rs. 2,000 crores (USD
33.8 million) had been spent in 2012-13 alone by the Central and State
Governments in all states to construct toilets across the country. Rs.
1,820 (USD 30 million) crores were spent by the Central and State
Governments in 2011-12. While some of these funds may have helped create
good toilet facilities where sincere and honest bureaucrats were in
charge of implementation, the rest might have simply gone down the
drain.
What is the purpose of this data presentation?
The
purpose of this data presentation and is not to show how much has been
or not ben done. The purpose is to show the futility of Management
Information Systems (MIS) which are begun with good intentions but are
not regularly updated by the district and the sub-district
administration in many places. Merely launching an MIS for monitoring a
social development programme does not bring transparency and
accountability for the people who are identified as beneficiaries. While
data uploading must be monitored closely for quality and quantity
issues, they must be used effectively in planning and evaluation of
outcomes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which leads
the National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre promised the
following in its election manifesto (amongst other things):
1) digitisation of Government records to be taken up as as top priority to make them easily accessible;
2) mandate digitization of all government work to reduce corruption and delays;
3) focus to bring SC/ST, OBCs and other weaker sections of the society within the ambit of IT enabled development;.and
3) leverage
technology for e-Governance and engage proactively with the people
through social media for participative governance and effective public
grievance redressal mechanism.
Last year the Department of Personnel and Training
issued elaborate guidelines for improving the quality and quantity of
and people's access to information that is required to be proactively
disclosed under Section 4 of the RTI Act. Templates were drawn up for
displaying development spending data (physical and financial progress)
from the village up to the State level in consultation with civil
society representatives who had undertaken such innovative disclosure
experiments on a small scale across the country. But implementation of
these guidelines has not started in right earnest despite strong civil
society demand for it. Activists have even filed a PIL in Jammu and
Kashmir demanding better implementation of the proactive disclosure
provisions of the State's RTI Act. Often the bureaucracy does not seem
to wake up until shaken up by the courts.
In October last year the Hon'ble Prime Minister,
then the Chief Minister of Gujarat is said to have told the youth about
his conviction: "Pehle shauchalay, phir devalay" (toilets first, temples
later). When he meets the Secretaries of various Ministries today
evening to hear from them their action plan for governance, I hope this
message goes out clearly to the bureaucrats - "building toilets for
every household can ensure a certain measure of safety for girls and
women". Nevertheless participative mechanisms such as social audits must
be created for ensuring greater accountability in developmental
spending. Of course the police must be held accountable for their
actions and omissions like never before. I leave the devising of that
methodology to the experts on the subject.
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