India rejects the toilet: How Government sanitation drives have failed to sway those who believe going outdoors is more wholesome

By: vivian on domingo, agosto 23, 2015

itagnews:

In the lanes of Parvar Poorab, a peaceful North Indian village set amid monsoon-soaked fields, Savita stares suspiciously at the concrete lavatory outside her home. The most pressing reason to banish the practice, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to do by 2019, is its effect on public health – spreading infectious diseases and stunting children’s growth by circulating faecal bacteria in the environment.

In this densely packed country, even people using toilets will still be exposed to germs unless everyone in the community abandons their routine of trudging to the nearest field, pond or railway track to relieve themselves. In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and with an open defecation rate among the worst in the country, officials acknowledge that they are not making inroads, even in priority villages like Parvar Poorab.

“We are not facing any problem in the case of construction, but the major issue of toilet usage is our challenge, and regarding this we are helpless,” says Santosh Kumar Singh, who oversees the sanitation drive in the state. His preference for a much more expensive model with a septic tank, instead of a basic offering with a pit that must be emptied manually, highlights what experts believe is a key reason why Indians persist in defecating in the open.

In Parvar Poorab, 30-year-old Ranjita, who has a satellite dish and a television in her small brick bungalow, will only build a toilet for her family once she can afford one with a pit big enough that it does not have to be emptied for decades. Convincing Indians of the benefits of any kind of toilet has been a secondary priority in official sanitation drives – the Modi government’s “Clean India Mission” has halved the spending on information, education and communication activities to 8 per cent of the total budget. (source: Independent)

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