Despite the government spending 30 billion USD to build 100 million new latrines, Indians are still “passionate” to open-air toilets for ridiculous reasons.
On the 150th anniversary of the birth of the spiritual leader of the Indian people Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi stated: “The world will be overwhelmed because 100 million toilets have been provided to more than 600 million people in 60 months. Before that, no one believed that there would be a day when India would solve this problem of open defecation so quickly. so quickly. But now, we have done it.”
Prime Minister Modi has started the project – part of the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign since 2014, in an effort to completely eliminate open defecation of people. Accordingly, the Government of India has spent more than 30 billion USD and built more than 100 million toilets over the next 7 years to improve sanitation conditions across the country.
In the past, sanitation was still a huge problem in this country of 1.3 billion people. Hundreds of millions of Indians still have to go to the bathroom outdoors because the country doesn’t have enough quality toilets for the entire population. That situation increases the risk of spreading diseases, greatly affecting health and social situation when many Indian women and children are often vulnerable to sexual assault because they have to wait until it is dark. willing to go “solve”.
According to UNICEF, India has the highest number of people going to the toilet outdoors in the world, with about 620 million people and the majority in rural areas. The foundation also says that pollution from waste and poor sanitation are the leading causes of death, disease, malnutrition and stunting in children.
The World Health Organization estimates that a successful Indian government campaign could help prevent more than 300,000 deaths from diarrhea and malnutrition between 2014 and October 2020.
In 2020, Prime Minister Modi announced that India had finally ended open defecation. People have used toilets instead of going in fields, bushes or any other open space as before.
Is the problem really solved?
If the government figures are accurate, this would mark a huge achievement. However, experts say the statistics are “false” and that open defecation has not been completely eliminated in the country.
Nazar Khalid, a research fellow at the Research Institute of Creative Education (RICE), said the government focuses too much on building toilets without paying attention to maintenance and Proper waste management.
The lack of toilets, the lack of water sources, and the lack of awareness about hygiene and proper hygiene are the main reasons why people often go to the toilet outdoors. In India, people’s attitude towards defecation remains a major challenge in eliminating the practice.
Accordingly, many people in rural areas consider open-air defecation to be cleaner than indoor defecation.
Before this Indian government campaign started, only 39% of households in the country had access to a toilet. The government said that 100% of households now have toilets. However, experts say these numbers are overblown and many residents are still living without a toilet – or not using one even when they have been provided.
RICE expert said: “We appreciate that this government has made sanitation a big priority, which has never been done in the past. However, open defecation is in no way eliminated. “
A 2014 RICE study of households in four northern states found that 70% of rural people surveyed used to defecate outdoors in public places. Another survey in late 2018 found that number to be 44%.
This expert added: “The government only focused on calling for toilet construction but did not take into account maintenance of facilities and waste management. Not only building toilets, but also needing to teach people how to use and maintain toilets.”
A. Kalimuthu, Project Manager at WASH Institute said: “Building is the easy part. We’ve built hundreds of toilets, but the main focus is on teaching people how to use toilets.”
Besides, the issue of caste in Indian society is also a significant barrier that needs to be changed. According to the beliefs of the people of this country, cleaning latrines and disposing of waste is only for members of the lowest class of society. People of the higher class will never “handle” this.
“People don’t want to handle human waste. Traditionally, this job was only for a certain group of people in society.“, said RICE expert.
In the end, this expert concluded that open defecation “is a matter of behavior, not of accessibility” and the focus should shift to understanding whether General Modi’s campaign is creating real health impacts.”
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here
