One of the Prime Minister's requests made on 15 August 2014

I hope you all had a chance to hear our Prime Minister, Mr Modi, address the nation from the Red Fort on the occasion of the 68th Independence Day. It was a very inspiring and motivating speech. While he mentioned new progressive acts for every Indian, I wanted to focus on his scheme for installing toilets in schools, especially in our villages. For that the Prime Minister has appealed to NGOs, MPs, MLAs & the Private Sector to join forces to ensure success of this scheme.


All the stakeholders mentioned by the Prime Minister in his speech need to identify schools in their jurisdiction and start the process to create toilet blocks with water facilities. Without access to running water, toilet blocks are of no use to students. During my visits to a number of such schools, the major problem I noticed was a lack of running water and water sources on the school campus - e.g. open well, bore well etc. A lack of toilet facilities has led to many girl students dropping out from schools on health grounds.

Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting is the best long term solution to ensure a regular supply of water to Schools. It requires very little infrastructure and is very economical to implement. As Director , Parjanya, I am willing to provide all the help in this mission. Parjanya is a Socially and Environmentally responsible Consultancy, and it would be an honour to help the nation.

Educating everyone is important, but is especially important to educate girls. A study by the UNFPA has found that investing in girls' education is the most effective way to reduce poverty. Educated girls are more likely to remain healthy, know their rights, enter the workforce and have a healthier family. If a simple toilet can help resolve this issue, then it is something that we should all pressure the Government to fund.
 
The Government has allocated a 'Local Area Development Fund' to MPs & MLAs for such works. Most large Corporate House and Private companies also allocate funds under their Corporate Social Responsibility activities. Efficient utilisation of these resources can ensure an active participation by the Government, Business and the People. This will ensure that we can improve the reach of education to our most underprivileged, and help the environment at the same time.

Not only can rain water harvesting reduce the operational costs for schools by reducing water tanker purchases, it helps the environment by reducing CO2 emissions, and if used in the right places, it can help our future generations get educated. Friends, the time is now. We need to step up the pressure to ensure, that together, we can make a difference.