Mittur Survey Analysis
ANALYSIS OF MITTUR SURVEY – Oct 21, 2010
On October 21, 2010, a group of six volunteers visited Mittur village (Kolar) and conducted a survey which was mainly focussed on hygiene practises of women and sanitation facilities in the village. Some additional information related to education, occupation, etc was also collected. The analysis of each parameter using charts, figures & notes wherever possible is given below.
Volunteers Present – Mrs. Sunanda Krishnamurthy, Mrs. Shalini Bhogle, Mrs. Rama, Mrs. Vyjayanti, Mrs. Gowri Urs, Ms. Sinu Joseph
Total number of houses covered = 47
Total number of females surveyed = 106
Parameters:
1.     Age Group
2.     Education
3.     Occupation
4.     LED Lamps
5.     Cooking Method
6.     Daily Garbage Disposal
7.     Drinking water source
8.     Sanitation
9.     Menstrual Hygiene
10. Disposal Method (Menstrual hygiene)
Highlights:
Two major aspects seem to require immediate attention
1.     Construction of Toilets – At school, and also in the village (perhaps a community toilet)
2.     Availability of affordable, hygienic and safely disposable Sanitary Napkins, especially for school & college going students
Some other points
1.     Promote education of girls, and help educated women find better jobs
2.     Find alternative, cheaper cooking options for the families dependent on firewood alone (26 families out of 47 surveyed)
3.     Find solutions to existing water problems for the families having to collect water from taps which is very irregular. (27 out of 47 families)
4.     Education about family planning to be given to the women having 8-10 children
DETAILED ANALYSIS
1. AGE GROUP:
| Age group (years) | Number of females | Percentage |
| 8-10 | 6 | 6.00% |
| 11-15 | 18 | 17.00% |
| 16-25 | 34 | 32.00% |
| 26-35 | 21 | 20.00% |
| 36-45 | 7 | 7.00% |
| >45 | 16 | 15.00% |
Notes:
1.     More than 55 women surveyed are between the age group of 16-40 years. Majority of them use cloth during their menstrual cycle. Also, majority do not have a toilet at home, and have to use open spaces, during the day and more importantly, at night as well, risking safety, facing embarassement and complete lack of privacy.
2.     More than 16 women are over the age of 40 years. Again, lack of toilets which cause them to use open spaces, especially during ill health should be a cause of concern.
3.     Around 24 girls are between the age group of 8 to 15. Unlike in urban areas, majority of the girls surveyed were yet to attain puberty, even though they had reached the age of 14 years. Although the normal age for attaining puberty is considered to be anywhere between 8-16 years, the fact that some girls may be undernourished & hence underdeveloped might be one of the reasons why they haven’t yet attained puberty.
2. EDUCATION:
| Education | No. of Female | Percentage |
| SSLC | 17 | 16.00% |
| Std-9 | 7 | 7.00% |
| Std-8 | 4 | 4.00% |
| < Std-8 | 20 | 19.00% |
| PUC | 12 | 11.00% |
| B.E. Electronics | 1 | 1.00% |
| BA | 1 | 1.00% |
| Bcom | 1 | 1.00% |
| Diploma | 1 | 1.00% |
| Nursing | 1 | 1.00% |
| ITI Course | 1 | 1.00% |
| No Education | 40 | 38.00% |
Notes:
1.     40 women(38%) surveyed were found to be uneducated
2.     Ms. Soumya, aged 23 yrs (surveyed by Mrs.Vyjayanti), has completed B.E Electronics and is currently looking for a job, and should probably be encouraged & appreciated for having come this far in terms of education.
3.     Ms. Rathnamma, aged 21 yrs (surveyed by Mrs. Shalini Bhogle), is persuing B’Com 3rd year and should be encourgaed.
3. OCCUPATION
| Occupation | No. of Females | Percentage |
| Agriculture & Field work | 21 | 20.00% |
| Housewife | 23 | 22.00% |
| Students | 23 | 22.00% |
| Sericulture | 3 | 3.00% |
| Others (Nursing, Teaching, NGO, Making Agarbattis, Cattle care) | 17 | 16 % |
Notes:
1.     Jayalakshmi (surveyed by Mrs. Shalini Bhogle) is the President of Stree Shakti.
2.     Mrs. Shashikala, aged 24 yrs, married (surveyed by Mrs.Vyjayanti), has completed BA and has been trained by an NGO called Saksharatna Bharat Mission.
3.     Mrs. Lakshmamma, aged 65 (surveyed by Mrs. Shalini Bhogle) used to attend Panchayati meetings until 5 yrs ago.
4.     Mrs. Prema, aged 26 (surveyed by Mrs. Shalini Bhogle) is an ASHA worker, and helps women during delivery.
5.     Ms. Shubha, aged 18 (surveyed by Mrs. Vyjayanti) has expressed interest in voluntary work/social service.
6.     The 23 housewives could be motivated to do voluntary service like maintaining the newly constructed toilets.
4. LED LAMPS
Using LED Lamps = 7 families
Happy with the LED Lamps = All who received it have said Yes
Would like to get an LED Lamp = 20 families
Notes:
1.     Most houses receive electricity from the exchange. But power cuts are very frequent.
2.     1 house had Solar powered Lanterns (Mrs. Bhagyamma’s house, aged 22, surveyed by Mrs. Vyjayanti)
3.     Although 20 families out of 47 have expressed a desire to receive LED Lamps, they may not really require it unless they have a school going child at home.
5. COOKING METHOD
| Method Used | Number of families | Percentage |
| Only Firewood | 26 | 55.00% |
| Firewood + Kerosene | 7 | 15.00% |
| Firewood + Gas Cylinder | 10 | 21.00% |
| Only Gas (2 Gober Gas) | 6 | 13.00% |
Notes:
1.     The main problem for the families dependant only on Firewood was the difficulty in collecting dry wood during the rainy season. This is the main reason why the families who can afford it, store Kerosene for the rainy days. However, some who use only firewood manage to store some indoors or use Mulberry roots during a rainy day.
2.     For the families using gas cylinder, the problem was in travelling to Mulbagal to get a new cylinder.
3.     2 families use Gober Gas (Surveyed by Mrs. Sunanda & Mrs. Vyjayanti)
6. DAILY GARBAGE DISPOSAL
Notes:
1.     All houses throw the daily garbage into pits used for composting.
2.     Majority of the houses have their compost pit into which the daily garbage is dumped.
3.     The houses which do not have a place for making a pit, dump the garbage in a nearby pit.
4.     Some people segregate the plastic from the waste and sell it.
5.     Some, use the manure from the compost for the field. Others, sell the manure.
7. DRINKING WATER SOURCE
| Source of Drinking Water | Number of Families | Percentage of Families |
| Borewell | 11 | 23.00% |
| Tap / Pipeline | 27 | 57.00% |
| Well | 6 | 13.00% |
| Panchayati Tank / Tap | 10 | 21.00% |
Notes:
1.     The families who fetched water from taps complained about the irregularity of water flow. Some times, there would be a gap of 3-4 days. And per day, availability of water in the taps would only be for 1 hour or so. Such families might benefit greatly from rain-water harvesting.
8. SANITATION
| Toilets (Home / Outside) | Number of families | Number of Women |
| Toilet at Home | 14 | 37 |
| Outside (Field) | 25 | 50 |
| Outside (Soaking Pit) | 5 | 13 |
| Public Toilet | 3 | 6 |
| Toilets (Home / Outside) | Percentage of families | Percentage of Women |
| Toilet at Home | 30.00% | 35.00% |
| Outside (Field) | 53.00% | 47.00% |
| Outside (Soaking Pit) | 11.00% | 12.00% |
| Public Toilet | 6.00% | 6.00% |
Notes:
1.     30 families(64%) & 63 women(59%) use open spaces to attend to nature’s call.
2.     15 women volunteered to maintain the toilets, if constructed. Out of which, one lady named Mrs. Rathnamma (who cooks in the middle school & was surveyed by Ms. Sinu) insisted that she be considered for volunteering before anyone else.
3.     All women who had to use the open field, said that it will be highly beneficial if toilets were built for them.
4.     Some said that they were willing to construct the toilets with a little help. Some said that we must help them obtain the govt’s funds kept aside for constructing toilets in each house (around Rs. 3000 each). One or two families managed to construct their own Toilets using the govt funds.
5.     NONE reported cases of frequent diarrhoe.
9. MENSTRUAL HYGIENE
| Method Practised | Number of females | Percentage of females |
| Cloth only | 40 | 38.00% |
| Sanitary Napkin only | 34 | 32.00% |
| Both Cloth & Sanitary Napkin | 4 | 4.00% |
| None | 28 | 26.00% |
10. DISPOSAL METHODS (Cloth or Sanitary Napkin)
| Method Practised | Number of females | Percentage of females |
| Throw with Garbage | 17 | 16.00% |
| Burn | 10 | 10.00% |
| Throw in water | 4 | 4.00% |
| Bury | 4 | 4.00% |
| Throw in the drainage | 1 | 1.00% |
Notes:
1.     Almost all women had good hygiene practises in terms of changing & washing the used menstrual cloth at frequent intervals.
2.     3 women had some problems – rashes, itching, rashes.
3.     One woman named Rathnamma (surveyed by Ms. Sinu) has a problem of scanty menstruation since the last 3 years, and is quite worried about it.
CLOTH USAGE:
4.     All women using cloth used only Cotton material from old shirts, pants, dhotis, sarees, etc. Some even went to Mulbagal town to purchase new cotton material specifically for this purpose.
5.     All women used soap & water at home to wash the used cloth. Some used dettol, bleaching powder along with warm water.
6.     Most women discard the cloth 2-3 months after use, which is a good practise.
SANITARY NAPKIN USAGE:
7.     Ten women spend between Rs. 20 to Rs. 30 per month on Sanitary Napkins, purchased from Mulbagal town.Three women spend between Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 per month. One woman spends Rs. 70 per month (several girls in her family)