8.4 million indigenous women are living in the remote areas of Odisha and struggling with drinking water issues. The main focus of the programme is to; Aware 0.1 million women about their rights to have an access to safe drinking water. As they are using the contaminated water from local resources which is unsafe thus we are demanding "Safe drinking water as a fundamental right" under Article 21(Indian Constitution) and every household of remote areas must have the piped water supply.
In the remotest areas of Odisha, the community is using local resources of water which is unsafe thus community is suffering from many water borne diseases like dental, skeletal flourisis, Diahheria, cholera and other gastrointestinal problems. Their lives are at risk. Due to contaminated water, several death occurred every year. In 2017-18, 1341 drinking water sources were fluoride contaminated. In 2015, more than 5000 children were died and unsafe water was one of the cause of the deaths.
In 2017 State Government launched the BASUDHA scheme to provide piped water supply to every household but the scheme was not implemented properly and is limited to some areas. Atmashakti is enabling the community in demanding the "Right to safe drinking water" under Article 21(Indian Constitution) through advocacy and by building strong people's organisation. Through the act, community will be able to demand safe drinking water through piped water supply.
Atmashakti has reach to 0.1 million women out of 8.4 million of indigenous women presently. Through this process community will become able to advocate for their rights and entitlements with the government. By availing safe drinking water, risk of deaths and water borne disease as mentioned earlier would be reduced. Every household will have the access of toilets with proper facilities and open defecation would be reduced which will promote the healthier and quality life in the remote areas.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
