600 million lack toilets in India
MUMBAI: No one
would ever call
Radha Jagarya
fortunate. The
45-year-old widow
and her four
children live on the
pavement in an
upmarket south
Mumbai suburb,
scraping a living by
selling flowers to
passing motorists.
But in terms of
public toilet
provision, the
family is
well-served compared
with other areas,
with an adequate
communal block a
five-minute walk
away near the US
Consulate and
another under a busy
road in the opposite
direction.
In slum areas, where
more than half of
Mumbai lives, an
average 81 people
share a single
toilet. In some
places it rises to
an eye-watering 273.
Even the lowest
average is still 58,
according to local
municipal authority
figures.
Inside my room at Taramoni, T.T.T.I. Madras, Tamil Nadu State, India
Unsurprisingly, it
is still common to
see people squatting
by roads and railway
tracks or along the
coast, openly
defecating in the
city that drives
India’s economy
and where some of
the world’s
richest people live.
Outside of my room for local students. I used it sometimes.
The UN estimates
that 600 million
people or 55 percent
of Indians still
defecate outside,
more than 60 years
after the
scrupulously clean
independence leader
Mahatma Gandhi first
talked of the
responsible disposal
of human waste.
Jack Sim takes a
very keen interest
in such matters. As
the founder and
president of the
World Toilet
Organisation (WTO),
he has made it his
mission to improve
sanitation across
the globe.
For him, India has
“a lot of work to
do” to improve
sanitation, not just
because of its
impact on health and
the spread of
diseases like
diarrhoea, which
UNICEF says kills
1,000 Indian
children aged under
five every day.
It also tarnishes
the image of a
country that likes
to portray itself as
an emerging world
economic superpower,
the Singapore
businessman told AFP
on a visit to Mumbai,
where he was
promoting World
Toilet Day on
November 19.
In particular, Sim
questioned whether
the authorities in
New Delhi were doing
enough to provide
adequate public
toilet facilities
for the 2010
Commonwealth Games,
which will draw tens
of thousands of
foreign visitors.
“If you don’t
have good toilets to
welcome tourists,
they don’t come
and won’t go to
all your beautiful
sites,” he said.
Public toilet
provision in Mumbai
– and other cities
– faces the same
problem affecting
housing, water and
other basic
services: supply
cannot keep up with
demand as India’s
population explodes.
In March, Mumbai’s
municipal
authorities said
there were 77,526
toilets in slum
areas and 64,157
more were needed.
Work is in progress
on only 6,050.
Yet the UN’s
Mumbai Human
Development Report
2009, published late
last year, points
out that even where
public toilets
exist, most have no
running water,
drainage or
electricity, making
them unhygienic and
unusable.
Embarrassment means
women and girls
often wait all day
until it is dark to
go to the toilet,
increasing their
chances of
infections and
exposing them to
violence or even
snake bites as they
seek out remote
places.
Poor sanitation and
the illnesses it
causes cost the
Indian economy 12
billion rupees (255
million dollars) a
year, according to
the health ministry.
Sim, who sees links
between public
lavatories and
social development,
wants the issue
pushed up the
political agenda,
urging people to
“talk more about
toilets.”
“People go to the
toilet more often
than they have
sex,” he said.
“Everybody has to
go.
“It needs to be a
very nice
experience. It needs
to be safe, it needs
to be hygienic, it
must not cause
problems to your
health and we need
to feel emotionally
engaged with the
toilet.”
Private sector
involvement could
help cut the number
of people in India
and other developing
countries that have
no sanitation –
estimated at 2.6
billion – while
more schemes are
needed to make open
defecation socially
unacceptable, he
said.
In Haryana state,
north India, a
successful “No
Toilet, No Wife”
campaign has been
running, urging
women to turn down
suitors if they
cannot provide them
a house with a
lavatory.
“Every problem is
a business,” said
Sim, adding there
would be a benefit
for the entire city
and the country’s
economy if every
slum-dweller had
access to proper
sanitation.
“People who are
healthy are able to
produce more, they
get out of poverty,
they get into the
middle class, they
move up and consume
more,” he said.
“Business is, I
think, the fastest
and the cheapest
way… The private
sector will come up
with innovations.
Let them compete to
serve the poor.” (AFP)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
