VINOD C DIXIT
Open defecation is a national shame and India tops in number of people open defecating. Open defecation in India is a grave issue and needs
to be addressed on top priority. According to UN report prompting the Government to admit it as a “huge shame”, India still has the largest
number of people defecating in open in the world. Report of WHO and the UNICEF say 597 million people practice open defecation in India.
No doubt, most of the people who defecate in open, lack awareness about sanitation. But apart from this, the single major factor which forces
people to defecate in open is poverty. One in three people, or 2.3 billion people worldwide, have to share a toilet with multiple families in a
community. Open defecation poses a serious threat to the health of children in India. It exposes women to the danger of physical attacks and
encounters such as snake bites. 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.
No country in the world has more open defecation than India, where one in two people defecate outside. Every year, 200,000 children in India
die from diseases caused by fecal contamination. Although toilets were built, without adequate motivation to use them, village people often
continued to adhere to centuries-old practices, and abandoned the new toilets or put them to alternative uses. In fact there is still a traditional
thought that the presence of toilets in the compound makes the later impure. Educated or uneducated, people in rural areas, for want of indoor
plumbing use open space for defecating. There are some people who think that open defecation is more hygienic and having an indoor toilet is
dirty and filthy.
Improving sanitation in the villages has proved to be one of India's greatest development challenges. One of the main challenges faced in the
drive to eliminate open defecation is the inadequate human resource base for sanitation.
While leading a non-violent movement for India's independence from the British in 1947, Gandhi spoke about the need to improve hygiene and
cleanliness in the country. “Sanitation is more important than political independence,” he said.
It is a shame that 70 years after independence and India is still in such a state, where people have no knowledge, no resources to
maintain a minimal level of hygiene. It's not that all those 60% people who don't use toilet are not financially able to construct toilets in their
homes, actually many of them posses TV, cooler, motorcycles and many other accessories but don't feel the need to have a toilet inside
their compound.
No doubt. , access to sanitation in rural India is improving, the increase is not equitable. Open defecation is still almost universal
among the poorest 20 per cent of the population. We need a grass root campaign on how many diseases can be avoided by basic
cleanliness and how spending on toilets is as important as developing other infrastructure.
Whatever welfare measures taken so far by the government has not reached fully the mass. We don't need to build new temples, mosques,
churches, gurudwaras etc. Public toilets with good water facility are the need of the hour. In a country like India it is very difficult and takes a long
time to change the practice of open defecation in rural areas. Most of the toilets which are started for public use are being neglected by the people
due to improper maintenance. It is the matter of hygiene that can attract more people to use toilet.
The implementation of toilet system can be carried out in a phased manner with prior creation of awareness through media. It is not that
government is only responsible. People have to take responsibility for their own well being as well.
