Suresh Chhanga of Kunariya gram panchayat in Kachchh district has ushered a transformation in his village, with a focus on safe water and sanitation services, demonstrating how villages can lead in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
Kunariya in Kachchh district of Gujarat is set amidst a dry landscape of scrub, grassland and desert-like features, with the seasons alternating between a torrid summer, scanty monsoon and a cold dry winter.
With 600 households and a population of about 3,500, the village is largely dependent on agriculture, animal husbandry, crafts and labour work.
Over the last few years, Kunariya has undergone a remarkable transformation, ensuring safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, and democratic participation, and is now working towards ecological regeneration and high-quality education.
The transformation began about eight years ago, when Suresh Chhanga became the sarpanch of Kunariya gram panchayat, a cluster of three settlements.
In 2016, when standing for the post of sarpanch, Chhanga knew that he wanted to do something to change the face of Kunariya. Although he grew up in a well-off family that owned land and business in the village, he had witnessed the hardships faced by the less fortunate villagers.
The voluntary relief work he engaged in after the devastating earthquake in Kachchh in 2001 and the experience of working with civil society organisations (CSOs) after doing a master’s in social work gave him a broader social orientation.
Also Read: Traditional handloom weaves a comeback in Kachchh
He realised early on that the traditional divisions of caste, religion and gender had to be overcome if the situation of the entire community was to improve. After becoming sarpanch, Chhanga set about to realise these dreams.
Chhanga knows well that the air we breathe and the water we drink are the two basic needs for humans to exist. He believes that villages reflect the true status of development and it’s important to strengthen them for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Since Kunariya is situated in the white desert, water is one domain that the sarpanch and the villagers have collectively worked to improve. All the households have been provided with tap connections under Jal Jeevan Mission and a water security plan has been developed for the gram panchayat under Atal Bhujal Yojana.
With the help of this plan, Kunariya panchayat has prioritised the demand as well as supply side interventions aimed at uptake of efficient water use practices, such as drip irrigation, horticulture cropping and water budgeting for all households. Field testing kits are used to ensure that the villagers are supplied with safe water.
All the important days such as Global Handwashing Day, World Water Day and World Toilet Day are celebrated every year with the key stakeholders of the panchayat, to emphasise the importance of WASH.
Of the 17 sustainable development goals, SDG 6 on water and sanitation has been allotted the highest priority in Kunariya, to ensure that the villagers leave behind a liveable environment for the next generation.
Aligning to this vision, Chhanga has facilitated the construction of twin pit toilets in all households of the village, and ensured that the villagers use them.
Also Read: Banni Maldharis battle to rear cattle in Kachchh
The sarpanch and his ward members have provided blue- and green-coloured household dustbins for segregation of solid waste at household level, collection of the same using tricycles and push carts, and secondary segregation of collected waste at a segregation shed for further processing of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste.
Considering the strong presence of dairy farmers in the village, biogas units under GOBARdhan component and individual compost pits under the solid waste management component of Swachh Bharat Mission–Gramin have been facilitated for 50 households in the village. To ensure sustainable wastewater management, 10 community soak pits have been constructed at suitable locations.
Chhanga plans to integrate climate resilience into the waste management initiative, by shifting to e-vehicles for collection of solid waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Kunariya gram panchayat.
Possibly the most important part of this process has been a series of consultations in all the village wards, meetings of small focused groups, organisation of public events on all important days and conducting eight to nine gram sabhas a year.
The newly-elected body’s efforts have resulted in the residents of two hamlets that were away from the main Kunariya settlement also taking part in the gram sabha meetings.
Kunariya panchayat has gone beyond the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) to formulate a Vision 2024 document. Often the general impression is that perspective planning is done only in big cities, but Kunariya shows that this need not be so.
The document envisions a future that would be more prosperous, with full livelihood security, ecological regeneration, greater economic self-reliance based on sustainable production and consumption, eradication of malnutrition, reduction of waste, reduction in inequalities based on caste, gender, religion and stronger self-governance. All of this would centre around women’s empowerment and rights.
Also Read: Kachchh pastoralists struggle as grasslands shrink in Gujarat
With a continuous focus on achieving Sustainable Development Goals and involving young people from the village at every stage of the decision-making process, Chhanga believes that the youth will be the torchbearers for achieving the goals of the vision document and ensure that many gram panchayats like Kunariya are developed across the country.
The lead image shows a gram sabha planning meeting in progress at Kunariya in Kachchh district of Gujarat. (Photo by Tejas Deshmukh)
A civil engineer and a rural manager by qualification, Tejas Deshmukh blends both experiences to facilitate support for key government programmes and UN agencies, especially in the WASH sector.
