India’s Water and Sanitation Crisis: The Impact of Public Defecation on Food Security and Malnutrition

This text discusses India’s water and sanitation crisis, with a focus on the issue of public defecation and its impact on food security and malnutrition. It explores the causes and consequences of this issue, as well as potential solutions. The text also highlights the efforts of other countries, such as Haiti, to combat similar issues and provides suggestions for India to improve the lives of millions of its citizens.

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Marisa Villarreal
McCutcheon High School
Lafayette, Indiana
India, Factor 9: Water and Sanitation
Marisa Villarreal is a junior at McCutcheon High School
in Lafayette, Indiana. Marisa was introduced to the
World Food Prize through Mrs. Abi Bymaster, a Project
Lead the Way Biomedical Sciences teacher at
McCutcheon. After her experience at the 2015 Global
Youth Institute, Marisa was able to strengthen her
passion for solving food insecurity and her desire to
empower women all over the globe. Eventually, Marisa
would like to travel to India and participate in either
humanitarian work or research. Marisa would like to
thank Ms. Abi Bymaster and Ms. Sarah Powley for the countless revisions and their
undying love and support.
McCutcheon High School is in Lafayette, Indiana and is working to inform all of its
students about food insecurity and its presence not only around the globe, but in their
own community.
India: Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation for the Rural Population
“In a world of plenty, no one, not a single person, should go hungry” (Harvest2050).
These are the words of Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, when he
spoke at the Rio+20 and G20 Conferences in June of 2012. Unfortunately, there are
people that are still going hungry; in fact, about a quarter of the world’s undernourished
people reside in India (“India,” World Food Programme). Besides food insecurity, India
struggles with a lack of sanitation and a lack of accessibility to clean water. In India,
approximately 626 million people practice public defecation, a statistic that accounts for
almost three-quarters of the Indian population (“Water Sanitation Health- Fast Facts”).
Only a quarter of the total population in India has drinking water on their premises and
of that, twenty-five percent, sixty-seven percent of those households do not treat their
drinking water ("Water, Environment and Sanitation"). Thus, water is consumed despite
being infested with chemicals and/or bacteria. The result: disease and malnutrition. This
problem will only continue to grow as India’s population is expected to reach 1.69 billion
people by 2050 (Goswami).
Public defecation goes hand in hand with unclean drinking water and leads to disease
and malnutrition and thus pollution caused by feces mixing in with crops and water. In
addition, this lack of sanitation is exacerbated by a lack of hygiene products, specifically
for young women, a problem that becomes an impediment not only to their education,
but to their lives. These conditions are all interconnected but can be resolved by a
hygienic environment in India.

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The median household size in rural India is approximately four to five members
(Shrinivasan). In fact, around 47.1% of rural households have four or fewer members
(Shrinivasan). 70% of households are traditional nuclear families: one married couple
and one to two children. However, the shrinking amount of the Indian birth rate has not
been effective enough to prevent the overall population from increasing ("Why Does
India Have So Many People?"). The main grains that are eaten in India are wheat and
rice, but recently, consumption of fruit has increased. Mangoes, bananas, and coconuts
are some of the most favored fruits in the area. Potatoes, tomatoes, and onions are the
main vegetables in an Indian family’s diet. Milk, fish, chicken, goat meat and eggs are
also commonly eaten throughout the family. Regarding health care, “network of
government-owned and -operated sub-centres, primary health centres (PHCs) and
community health centres (CHCs) distribute primary health care to rural villagers but 80%
of outpatient care in an Indian rural medical facility is under the supervision of
practitioners who have no formal qualifications for the job, sometimes even lacking a
high school diploma” (Panagariya).
Since the early 1970’s, farm size in India “has declined from 1.84 ha to 1.32 ha” (Chand,
Prasanna, Singh). The major crops in India can be divided into four categories: food
grains, cash crops, plantation crops, and horticulture crops (“Major Crops of India”).
Rabi, Kharif, and Zaid crops are the categories of Indian crops that are classified based
on season. Rabi crops are the spring harvest/winter crop. These crops are “sown in
October last and are harvested in March and April” (“Major Crops of India”). A Kharif
crop is classified as the summer, or monsoon crop, and is “sown with the beginning of
the first rains in July” (“Majors Crops of India”). Zaid crops are grown in various parts
of the country between the months of March and June.
The most common form of agricultural production is subsistence farming, but plantation
agriculture and shifting agriculture are also common (Mondal). Plantation agriculture
involves large-scale production where only one type of crop is cultivated. “Plantation
crops are usually raised on large estates, of more than 40 hectares (100 acres) each”
(Chand). Farmers in the United States preserve soil fertility via annual crop rotation;
Indian farmers practice crop shifting. Crop shifting involves planting and harvesting a
designated plot of land. After a period of time, the field is set to lay fallow and the soil is
replenished with its natural nutrients.
Barriers to food security in an Indian family can come in the forms of insufficient food
production and high exposure to vagaries of weather (“Agriculture in India: Both Weak
and Strong”). “India’s agricultural sector is also characterized by insufficient
productivity, due to several factors such as the miniaturization of agricultural players,
limited use of mechanized farming techniques, a lack of adequate equipment and
infrastructure and the harmful consequences of the “Green Revolution” of the 1970s”
(“Agriculture in India: Both Weak and Strong”). The size of the average farm is an
outcome of the “post-independence farm reforms of 1947, which aimed to redistribute
land to poor farmers by placing limitations on the size of real estate” (“Agriculture in
India: Both Weak and Strong”). Due to a limited amount of farmland within the area,

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modernized farming techniques are inapplicable and an environment surrounded by
outdated equipment leads to a decrease in food productivity. Due to a combined low
income and a lack of knowledge, few farmers invest in the infrastructure for their farms.
This lack of storage facilities decreases the ability to maintain crops leading to a lack of
crops and can then lead to losses, sometimes representing forty percent of the harvest
(“Agriculture in India: Both Weak and Strong”). “Additionally, only 30 percent of usable
farmland is equipped with irrigation systems” (“Agriculture in India: Both Weak and
Strong”). The “Green Revolution” was launched by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in
the late 1970s. “The act boosted the agricultural sector by increasing yields, but also had
the disadvantage of increasing production costs” (“Agriculture in India: Both Weak and
Strong”). A rise in production costs led to farmers’ inability to compete and left them in
debt. In addition, India’s agriculture production depends highly on the monsoon season.
“Bad” monsoons provide either insufficient or excessive levels of rain, both of which can
cause decreases in crop yields. Monsoons that bring excessive levels of rain lead to floods.
With these floods, the feces from public defecation can be carried widely and
contaminate crops, water, and homes, thus spreading disease.
Twenty-six rupees per day is the official poverty line for Indian villagers (Krasny).
Although 4,500 rupees a month (Rs. 150 a day) is the National Mean Income for India,
seventy-five percent of the population live below that (Krasny). With a limited amount
of money, meals must be strategically planned. Shortcuts on any cost whatsoever will
always be chosen. Choosing to walk long distances rather than spending money on a
mode of transportation limits the amount of jobs that are available to villagers. The rural
residents turn to farming or anything else within their village that may provide any kind
of income.
Although India has one of the largest road systems in the world, the majority of the 2.7
million km network is in poor condition ("Improving Connectivity Across Rural India”).
With limited access to all weather roads in rural areas, the monsoon season discourages
travel and prevents a farmer from traveling to the market to sell their crops. Not only is
the farmer not earning a profit from his crops, but those that buy food from the market
have very limited choices. If the food is to eventually get to market, the nutrients within
the crop may not be as beneficial when compared to the nutrition that would have been
available when the food was originally harvested.
According to an estimate from UNICEF, nearly one-half of India’s children are
malnourished (“The Final Frontier”). “According to the UN, countries where open
defecation is most widely practiced have the highest number of deaths of children under
the age of five, as well as high levels of under nutrition, high levels of poverty and large
disparities between the rich and poor” (“India Tops in Open Defecation”). “India is the
open defecation capital of the world with 638 million people defecating in the open”
(“Campaign”). Of the one billion people worldwide that do not have access to a toilet,
Indians make up 600 million (“The Final Frontier”). Public defecation can be located
virtually anywhere, but is most commonly found close to a water supply due to the easy
access people have to rinse themselves off with the nearby water. That means that local

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villagers retrieve and ingest water that is laden with bacteria. Worms can be ingested as
well. This entrance of pathogens to the human body leads to diseases such as enteropathy
and diarrhea. Enteropathy does not allow calories and nutrients to be absorbed, which
offers an explanation for the unfaltering, increasing rate of malnourishment in Indian
children. Diarrheal diseases go hand in hand with the deaths of thousands of young
children each year in resource-limited countries such as India (Patil, et al).
Approximately 1,000 Indian children die every day due to diarrhea (“Campaign”). These
diseases affect the health and growth of the local children. The direct contact with
pathogen-filled human feces leads to contamination of food and drinking water (Patil, et
al). As the population continues to grow, the amount of individuals practicing public
defecation will increase, therefore causing the intermixing of human feces and crops
inevitable.
Despite pledging to install toilets in every home, the Indian government has put forth
minimal effort to inform its citizens about the consequences of unsanitary practices.
According to The Guardian, “India still needs to build 100 million toilets to provide
everyone access, but experts say the country also needs to invest more in campaigns to
change behaviours” (“Billions Have No Access to Toilets”). Unfortunately, the Indian
government has “recently slashed its sanitation budget in half” (“Billions Have No
Access to Toilets”). Due to a lack of attention to the issue, meager funds have produced
insufficient solutions.
At the governing body meeting of State Water and Sanitation Mission in Bhubaneswar,
the State Government ordered the Rural Development Department to not participate in
any new Pipe Water Supply (PWS) projects unless the community is willing to take up
the operation and to hand existing PWS projects to their villages by March 2016 (Express
News Service). However, Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati spoke to take up capacity
building activities for local NGOs and community level organizations and include other
self-help groups (SHGs) as coordinators in the rural sanitation campaign (Express News
Service). The decision that all Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), the social welfare flagship
program that was created by the Indian government to provide rural housing for the poor,
beneficiaries would be connected with Swachh Bharat Mission, an Indian cleanliness
campaign formed in 2014, for the construction of toilets and would have no IAY house
treated complete without a toilet was also decided (Express News Service). The Rural
Development Department will initiate a campaign to influence the above poverty line
households to sacrifice the grant involved with toilet constructions which is supposed to
be for the below poverty line families (Express News Service). A relationship amongst
the department and the Community Led Total Sanitation campaign volunteers has been
ordered by the Chief Secretary that will be focused on the assortment of other
development programs. According to a recent survey, approximately eighty lakh, or
eighty hundred thousand, rural households do not have a latrine and five lakh toilets are
in need of renovating (Express News Service). During 2015-2016, a goal of twelve lakh
household latrines, 181 community toilets, and 102 solid and waste management plants
are set to be constructed (Express News Service). According to The Guardian, “379

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villages in different districts have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF)” and “at
least one block in each district will be declared ODF by October 2015” (Express News
Service).
Haiti’s efforts to combat the water and sanitation epidemic provide a model for India.”
The Haitian government is currently combating the water and sanitation epidemic in their
own country through the use of a $55 million two grant agreement between Wilson
Laleau, the Minister of Economy and Finance and Mary Barton Dock, a World Bank
representative (Haiti). The first project will take place over a course of six years and will
total $50 million. The project will pay for the services of drinking water and sustainable
sanitation and will lead to a decrease in the amount of cholera cases and deaths (Haiti).
The second project totals $5 million and is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture
and will focus on strengthening hydro-meteorological services by “developing the
monitoring analysis capacity of hydrological parameters” and assist in the “development
of technical tools adapted to agricultural needs” (Haiti). These two projects will help
Haiti achieve sustainable development in their sanitation, water, and hydrometeorology
sectors.
However, and unfortunately, India may struggle with finding $55 million to put towards
a project of this magnitude. Yet another country, Ethiopia, over the past five years “has
achieved the largest decrease in the proportion of the population practising open
defecation, from 92% in 1990 to 29% in 2015” through a plan that the government
concocted to stop the country and the sanitation sector donors from practicing open
defecation (Purvis). According to UNICEF, “the de-merging of (the) Federal Ministry of
Water Resources from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources in 2010
is an indication of Government’s commitment to improving access sanitation facilities
across the country” (“Ethiopia”). If the government of India could invest time and
resources into their water and sanitation problems, positive change can happen as in
Ethiopia.
When looking for an ideal solution to respond to the water and sanitation problem, India
must consider the cost of maintenance for the targeted solution, a thought that Tanzania
did not seem to bring into consideration when they attempted to bring clean water to their
small country. In 2007, the World Bank joined with the Tanzanian government to bring
in donors to fund a $1.42 billion project that aimed to “to bring improved access to water
to sixty-five percent of rural Tanzanians and ninety percent of urbanites by 2010, and
continue until each and every citizen had safe drinking water” (Murphy). At the start of
the project, only fifty-four percent of Tanzanians had access to an improved water source,
a source of water that is protected from contamination; today that number has decreased
to fifty-three percent (Murphy). Since the commencement of the project, 3.8 million more
Tanzanians lack access to improved water (Murphy). According to Humanosphere,
“experts across Tanzania’s water industry say the program is failing to address the
fundamental challenges that have plagued Tanzania’s water sector for decades”
(Murphy). When looking for solutions for their water and sanitation epidemic, India

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needs to examine both successful and unsuccessful solutions used in other countries in
order to formulate a solution that fits their countries water and sanitation needs.
On January 5, 2015, philanthropist Bill Gates announced another part of the Gate’s
Foundation’ mission to improve sanitation in poor countries. That part is the Omni
Processor. The Omni Processor is a machine invented by Janicki Bioenergy. The
machine’s sole purpose is to convert human feces into drinkable water and produce
power and ash by using a steam engine. The Omni Processor can intake 12.3 cubic meters
of sewer sludge per day in order to begin the conversion from feces into water (“Janicki
Bioenergy”). First, feces travels into the machine and is then boiled inside a large tube.
The boiling allows water vapor to separate from the solid waste. The vapor then gets
cleansed through the use of filters and a cyclone to remove any further potentially
dangerous particles. The water treatment adjusts the pH. Condensation occurs, which
allows for the production of clean drinking water. Around 10,800 liters of water can be
produced each day, along with 150 kW (“Janicki Bioenergy”). The water meets the
requirements for the United States FDA and the World Health Organization. According
to Forbes.com, the Omni Processor’s current cost is approximately $1.5 million. Janicki
Bioenergy’s objective is to lower the price of the machine to the point where
entrepreneurs in developing countries will want to invest and start their own waste-
treatment businesses (Chowdhry). The machine pays for itself, because it produces
electricity, water, and ash (Chowdhry). The company, located in Washington, is already
moving forward to test the Omni Processor in Senegal in April of 2015. “Janicki’s
engineers plugged sensors and webcams into the Omni Processor so that they can control
it remotely and communicate with the team in Senegal so that it can fix problems if they
arise” (Chowdhry). As new as a development this is, further research will need to be
conducted in order to make the machine accessible to any developing country. This could
take over a year. Eventually, the machine could potentially be located in rural India,
where it could bring clean water and electricity to villages and the surrounding area.
Columbia University’s Sustainable Engineering Lab has recently installed the first of
three battery-less solar powered irrigation pilot systems in Senegal. “Each system
provides clean energy to power water pumps for 7 horticulture farmers in rural Senegal
as part of USAID’s Powering Agriculture grant” (Humphrey). The 6.8kW array of solar
panels was installed at a fixed tilt (15 degrees) (Humphrey). According to the
Engineering lab, in order “to stay below the upper voltage limits of the controller (750V),
we wired up the panels using two parallel strings of 17 panels each (3.4kW)” (Humphrey).
The land for the device was provided by the community (Humphrey). “However, with
weather drawbacks the device brings along some complications. Manual controls are
required for functioning on cloudy days and automated controls are in use during clear
and sunny days. The controller is housed in a concrete building where it will be operated
as a micro utility, selling water as a service to local farmers” (Humphrey). Introducing
this device to rural India would open up the opportunity to easily provide clean water.
Applied to irrigation for agriculture, this device could increase the amount of crops
produced for the surrounding area and reduce deaths due to malnourishment.

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Water.org is a program that installs wells that deliver sanitary water to a community
(“Solutions”). Fortunately, the company has already involved itself in rural and urban
Indian communities in 11 states and one Union Territory: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharsashtra, Rajashthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal,
Assam, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (UT).
Water.org offers both grants and WaterCredit, a program that uses microfinance tools to
offer small loans to households in India (“India,” Water.org). The program is unique due
to the fact that the employees are the locals in the targeted area. “Locally-based partners
are better positioned to understand and navigate social, political, and economic issues
impacting projects” (“Solutions”). “They are also more informed about local financial
resources for cost-sharing in projects” (“Solutions”). Water.org enlists and informs the
locals on how to help construct the project, which decreases cost. However, if a problem
occurs that locals are unable to solve, the local organization will offer help. This is paid
for by the regular maintenance fees collected by the communities’ water committees
(“Solutions”). During the production of the project, Water.org provides training and
motivational seminars over the relationship link between good health and good hygiene
(“Solutions”). Unfortunately, if people have no understanding of disease and hygiene,
safe water benefits and sanitation are useless.
In order to introduce proper hygiene techniques in rural India, “teachers” must target the
older generation of Indian villagers, such as parents. Village leaders would make ideal
candidates as they possess the respect and trust of their village. By having this power
over the targeted village, the chance of success in teaching proper hygiene greatly
increases when compared to the attempt by an unknown, untrustworthy “teacher”. In
order for this process to succeed, teachers must be patient and discover a way to explain
and demonstrate why proper hygiene is extremely vital to the overall well-being of the
village. Formal educational institutes or an informal method may be required depending
on the current state and character of the intended village. Once the older generation of
villagers have begun practicing proper hygiene, they will take on the role of a model
citizen and allow these methods to become mimicked by village youth. If adolescents
begin to follow the proper methods, they will pass hygienic behavior on to their children
causing a cycle of proper hygiene to begin.
Through investment and advertisement, Columbia’s solar panels and the Water.org
program can be applied to solve the water and sanitation crisis in India more quickly than
any device such as the Omni Processor can be developed enough in order to be activated
in the rural areas.
“Sixty-six percent of girls’ schools do not have functioning girl toilets in India resulting
in a dropout rate of more than forty-four percent of girls after finishing year 5”
(“Campaign”). Approximately twenty-three percent of young girls drop out of school
every year due to an insufficient amount of menstrual hygiene facilities such as toilets
(“Campaign”). These young ladies must marry because they have no skills and no

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education. If the young girl chooses not to marry, she may find herself stumbling into
servitude or prostitution in order to survive (Rodarte).
“Women cultivators and agriculture laborers perform about 70% of all the agriculture
activities” (“India: Women Farmers Persevere”). However, once the mother is
malnourished, she is unable to keep up with her daily responsibilities around the
household or the farm. If she were to become pregnant while malnourished, her child
would be malnourished at birth, thus bringing into the world more malnourished children.
If those children are girls, they may continue the cycle of malnourishment.
Not only does a lack of sanitation affect women’s educations and futures, but their safety.
“When women and children have to relieve themselves, they are forced to venture into
the streets rather than using a toilet in the safety of their own home, which compromises
their safety” (Prentice). In fact, local authorities in Bihar stated that nearly 400 women
would have “avoided rape last year if they had toilets in their homes” (Prentice).
With unclean water come disease and unsanitary environments that affect the world’s
most precious gift, the gift of life. Indian girls drop out of school because their basic
human rights are not being met. The lack of toilets and feminine hygiene products leads
to an unsanitary environment. The unsanitary environment promotes public defecation.
Public defecation then leads to unclean water. Unclean water then leads to crops that are
unable sustain villagers. Not only is the girl left with no money, but she is left to fend for
herself. Prostitution and many more bad lifestyles seem to be the only doors open for
such a young lady. Since she has no education, she is unable to contribute to society and
continues the cycle of poverty.
Programs such as HEEAL, the Wherever the Need-Women’s Eco-Sanitation Toilets
India, and BeGirl are directed to solving the sanitation problems uniquely associated with
women and girls. “HEEALS is a non-profit organisation registered under the Indian
Government Societies Act 21 of 1860” (“Campaign”). HEEALS works to “improve the
sanitation and hygiene conditions of girls and children” (“Campaign”). HEEALS targets
rural areas, urban slums, refugee camps and orphanages (“Campaign”). The organization
provides toilets in areas with the highest demand, water purification tablets, water tanks,
soap and sanitary napkins (“Campaign”). By using games and modeling hygienic
behaviors, HEEALS addresses issues of sanitation and hygiene. For example, HEEALS
demonstrates proper ways to wash hands and use sanitary pads at home (HEEAL). They
also provide facilities with supplies such as soaps, sanitary pads and hand water,
sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) stations (“Campaign”).
Wherever the Need (WTN) provides women-only eco-sanitation toilets. This program
provides an enclosed, safe, and secure facility that houses four stalls. They also offer a
child friendly area, a bathing area, and a clothes washing area (“Women's Eco-Sanitation
Toilets India”). Eco-sanitation/compost toilets sit on an elevated platform above two
chambers. One chamber in use while the other is composting. Organic material is added
to the chambers to allow carbon that can be used for compost to enter. This carbon
oxygenates the composting process and neutralizes odors (“Women's Eco-Sanitation

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Toilets India”). Pathogen free compost can be produced within a time span of about five
months. Feces and urine are not permitted to mix due to the foul odor the combination
produces. This is prevented through a pipe that takes urine to a separate chamber. This
pipe may be used to make pellets that can also be used to nourish soils for crop growth
(“Women's Eco-Sanitation Toilets India”).
The program also offers a full education program to local residents. The building is built
by the local women. The cost for this facility is approximately £3,500 and can be used
by up to 350 women and children (“Women's Eco-Sanitation Toilets India”). This
program not only offers a sanitary environment, but the soil fertility is increased through
the compost and urine and therefore crop yields improve. By improving crop yields, the
production of food will increase. WTN is a successful program because the company
focuses on simplicity as their solution. WTN spotlights the “simple act of building a toilet
reduces pollution, disease and sickness, it creates healthy communities, promotes self-
respect and dignity, and underpins education and livelihoods” (“About Us”). Since the
establishment of WTN in 1997, the program has transformed over 50,000 lives in India
amongst other countries (“About Us”).
BE GIRL is a program that aims to make menstrual hygiene technology and practices
accessible to young women all over the world by offering reusable washable absorbent
holder pads and underwear. BE GIRL also works to bring not only equality among men
and women, but equality among women, by offering the same high-quality products to
all customers. The program has currently “reached over 3000 girls with 4,095 product
units distributed throughout nine countries: Rwanda, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Mali,
Jordan, Morocco, Kenya, and Ethiopia” (“Impact Beyond a Pad”). In a personal
interview with BE GIRL’s Operations Guru, Stephanie Rapp-LeGrand, there is
confirmation that there is no current supplier established within India (Rapp-LeGrand).
However, the opportunity for BE GIRL products to exist within India (or in any other
country) depends solely on the demand from existing NGO’s and other independent
programs requesting a product order (Rapp-LeGrand). If there were to be an NGO or
distributor, BE GIRL would be open to the idea of perhaps forming a partnership or a
more permanent presence within India (Rapp-LeGrand).
BE GIRL’s products are manufactured in Colombia by head of household women
(“Impact Beyond a Pad”). One of the co-founders, Diana Sierra, visits often and is
available to have a strong, hands-on presence within the Colombian factory’s production
(Rapp-LeGrand). The BE GIRL Flexi-Pad is the world’s only reusable washable
absorbent holder pad and allows the user to insert any safe absorbent disposable or
reusable material every four hours (“Products”). The Flexi-Pad was designed by a
collaboration between Sierra and young women in Uganda. With a cotton trim to protect
the skin from irritation, stain free material, a leak-proof nylon inner layer, an indoor dry
time of less than sixty minutes, and printed instructions on the pad for correct use, the
Flexi-Pad is the ideal product for young women that will reduce school absences and
promote contribution to (“Products”). The second product is the BE GIRL Panty-Pad,
which was designed after the Flexi-Pad in response to the targeted area’s lack of

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underwear for young women (Rapp-LeGrand). The Panty-Pad utilizes an absorbent
holder pouch which results in a “highly durable, washable, waterproof, and flexible
underwear for repeated use without compromising performance” (“Products”). BE
GIRL’s products are solutions because they adapt to resources based on location, have a
100% leak protection and comfort guarantee, low indoor drying time which offers
privacy for the user, the quick-dry fabric saves water for washing, and the stain-free
characteristic allows for an easy wash and dry (“Products”). With the Panty-Pad
providing two years and the Flexi-Pad providing one year of protection, the BE GIRL
products are cost effective, as the user is only required to change the filler and wash the
product, and are easily usable by people of all age, race, and culture (“Products”). As the
BE GIRL Company begins to grow into a global brand with the help of donations, the
arrival of new products and a buy one, get one product system are to arrive sometime in
the fall of 2015 (Rapp-LeGrand). Pre-existing NGO’s and NGO sub-programs purchase
the BE GIRL products and are able to introduce them to the villages through the use of
their existing relationship between the company and the locals (Rapp-LeGrand).
If there were to be a common voice and donations, there may be a possibility to bring BE
GIRL and their products to rural India. By breaking down the taboo barriers over
menstrual hygiene and informing their customers about the negative impact of disposable
tools, BE GIRL is working to promote feminine hygiene care to all the young women of
the world.
With over half of the population without access to a toilet, Indians turn to public
defecation. Defecating in the open leads to an unsanitary environment that promotes
infestation of bacteria and other hazardous chemicals within the water that is being drunk
and that which is used to water crops. The polluted water leads to diseases that infect the
locals. Women are especially prone to these diseases as they tend to be the water
gatherers of the family. An unsanitary environment can also include a lack of access to
feminine hygiene products. This absence of such products leads to girls staying home
from school. A minimum week of absences can impair a young lady’s educational career.
With so many absences, the chance of dropouts increases. If a young woman chooses not
to follow down the traditional marriage path, she may enter into the world of bad choices,
such as drugs or prostitution. No education also means no contribution to society, which
results in a continuous cycle of uneducated women and still no feminine hygiene products.
With that said, there are solutions that can be applied to this urgent problem. The Omni
Processor and Columbia’s Solar Panels are technological revolutions that have the
potential to solve the unclean water epidemic in India, and if thinking globally, the world
too. With the proper amount of investments, the manufacturers of these two devices will
then perfect their techniques, speeding up the ability to scale up and distribute their
products throughout the country. Programs such as Water.org, HEEALS, Wherever the
Need, and BeGirl are trying to resolve the problems of both unclean water and feminine
hygiene products. By installing wells, supplying toilets and compost toilets, and
providing sanitation seminars to the locals, supplying young women with feminine

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hygiene products these companies are making an impact in India and other countries and
will continue to do so if they receive more support from donators and investors.
All of these solutions will bring clean water to rural India and provide a sanitary
environment for villagers. The benefits of these programs and devices will improve daily
life. With clean water, the number of malnourished and sick locals will decrease. Also,
no longer will polluted water contaminate the fields of food; therefore, food production
will increase. Once there are healthy and clean people within a village, the focus on
school and achieving an education will be more realistic. By investing in the compost
toilets supplied by Wherever the Need, the compost that is produced will increase the
amount of crop yield for the surrounding area. In short, safe water and a hygienic
environment will have positive impacts that range from eliminating disease to increasing
education.
In the words of José Graziano da Silva, the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) Director-General, “The quest for food security can be the common
thread that links the different challenges we face and helps build a sustainable future”
(Harvest2050). By applying the listed solutions, five out of the eight Millennium
Development Goals of 2015 would be addressed in India: the eradication of extreme
poverty and hunger, an increase in educated young women (which would correlate with
the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women), the reduction of child
mortality, and improvements to maternal health (“Millennium Development Goals”).
These programs are not the only solutions to fixing food insecurity in India or globally,
but they are steps in the right direction.

12
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