These children in a coastal Bengal village are championing environmental change

We met the children when they were right in the midst of their work, too engrossed to chat. Here, at a local bazaar in Dakshin Gopalnagar — a village located in Patharpratima Block of South 24 Parganas, West Bengal,  one of the many settlements scattered across the southwestern fringes of India’s Sundarbans — the weekend afternoon was gloomy with an overcast sky ready to pour any moment.

The marketplace had shut down. The entire stretch lay in an afternoon slumber; narrow, muddy lanes wound between piles of garbage lining both sides. A putrid stench of decaying organic waste hung heavy in the air.

The group was busy, carefully segregating the waste with gloved hands, separating organic from inorganic material and gathering it into large gunny sacks. They were particularly vigilant about collecting the ubiquitous single-use plastics, placing them in separate bags.

Once the last pieces of plastic had been collected, they smeared bleaching power (calcium oxychloride, commonly used as a disinfectant) along the roadsides as they walked off. At a clearing nearby stood makeshift bin-like contraptions — fashioned out of bamboo sticks on four corners and surrounded by fishing nets. The gunny bags were promptly emptied into the bins, ready to be disposed of. Then, after they had washed their hands and feet with soaps at a nearby tube well, the children turned to meet us with wide grins on their faces! Now, they were ready to speak.

It was Gargee Ghorai who spoke first. At just 14 and a student of Class VIII, she was surprisingly articulate for her age. She introduced herself and her team members — the ‘Sobuj Bahini’ (Green Scouts), as they were called — explaining every detail of their weekly cleaning rounds and other activities.

How it all began

The Green Scouts initiative began in 2021-22 as a small pilot project, overseen by the Kajla Jana Kalyan Samiti, a grassroots non-governmental organisation partnered with CRY — Child Rights and You. The goal was simple: To empower local adolescents to play a transformative role in raising awareness and taking action on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) initiatives, waste management, combating plastic pollution and tree planting to promote a greener environment in their villages.

They were also taught to identify biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials and segregate recyclable and non-recyclable products around them. In the process, they learned why it is imperative to reduce the use of single-use plastics and how to manage plastic pollution in their everyday lives.

“Learning about all this was fun and a discovery for us at the same time,” Ghorai exclaimed. “We started to look at our surroundings in a completely new light.” 

Children taking agency

Once empowered with this knowledge, it was time to take agency. The Green Scouts wasted no time in becoming advocates for change, spreading the message and engaging in direct action. With great enthusiasm, they discussed it in their households, convincing their parents why better sanitation practices are the first and most important step towards community health. By internalising and demonstrating good WASH practices in their lives, they became role models for their family members, peers and playmates.

Their efforts didn’t stop there. The Green Scouts played a transformative role in raising awareness and action on waste management, plastic pollution and plantation drives in their localities. They started organising community clean-up events, collecting plastic bags, bottles, thermocol (a synthetic polystyrene compound) plates and other non-recyclable, non-biodegradable products and dumping them in dedicated garbage bins. They also spread awareness about composting organic waste.

Initially, they were instructed on the basics of WASH and its lasting impact on community health. It was an engaging process with interaction and storytelling, coupled with hands-on demonstrations covering essential topics like safe water practices and proper sanitation facilities, handwashing techniques and the impact of these practices on hygiene and public health.

They started planting trees as well — first in their own backyards and then in public places. Their mentors helped them with collecting saplings; later, the children reached out to the local Panchayat and forest department offices to collect more.

“You will find many such Gargees here. In Patharpratima and the adjacent Magrahat blocks, there are 19 such teams with a total strength of 317 members, among whom 88 are boys and 229 girls — all aged between 14 to 18 years,” Vivekananda Sahoo, the local coordinator of the Kajla Jana Kayan Samiti who mentored these children, said with a big smile. 

“Apart from keeping the toilets clean and following WASH practices, one should also make sure that the gutters, creeks and ponds are not choked with plastic. Otherwise, how could the poor fish and spawns breathe!” Ghorai stated. “And, when the fish eat tiny granules of plastic and then we eat those fish, we end up eating plastics! Living beings can’t live on plastic. They are killed by it,” her voice echoes a deep concern as if chanting a grim prophecy. 

The larger picture

The children knew little of the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6  aiming to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030, or of the ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), launched in 2014, with the goal of eliminating open defecation and improving solid waste management across India by 2025.

The second phase of the SBM, launched in October 2021, aims to build on the achievements of the first phase (2014–2019). While the initial phase focused on eliminating open defecation, SBM 2.0 focuses on solid and liquid waste management, ensuring sustained cleanliness and making India's villages and cities cleaner, greener and healthier.

As India gears up to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Swacch Bharat Mission on October 2, 2024, striding towards a cleaner, greener environment for children and their access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, the story of Ghorai and her friends taking agency in changing the environment is reason enough to be hopeful for the journey.

Puja Marwaha is CEO at CRY — Child Rights and You.

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth