The government is basking in glory with the construction of 80 lakh toilets across the countryside but the real picture is not as rosy as it may seem. Despite innumerable toilets being built, people in rural areas still prefer defecating in open fields.
Swachh Bharat Mission is not a pioneering initiative itself. A series of sanitation programmes preceded it such as Central Rural Sanitation Programme (1981), Total Sanitation Campaign (1999), the Nirmal Bharat Puraskar (2005) and the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (2012). Despite the combined efforts of all these initiatives people still do not prefer using toilets. According to the decadal Census, percentage of rural households that did not have toilet facilities within the premises decreased from 78.1 per cent in 2001 to 69.3 per cent in 2011, a decrease of 8.8 percentage points was noted.
The issue of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (the acronym is WASH) continues to plague India, hence it’s important to note the observations made by the Report on Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in India by WSP (Water and Sanitation Program, The World Bank), 2011. According to the report, the total annual economic impact of inadequate sanitation in India amounted to a loss of Rs. 2.4 trillion in 2006 that amounts to an annual loss of 2,180 rupees per head. This is a huge burden on our economy. Proper hand washing and clean water too are critical to combat health hazards like diarrhea and pneumonia associated with poor sanitation.
Rajasthan, a state that is leading the sanitation revolution in the country, could be an established example for others to emulate. Last year, after the hullabaloo the Rajasthan assembly passed two amendments to the Panchayati Raj Bill, which promulgated that, any candidate for Panchayat elections in Rajasthan should possess minimum educational qualifications.
The second amendment that didn’t catch media’s attention, was that any person willing to contest Panchayat elections, must have a functional sanitary toilet in their house, and that any of their family members do not defecate in the open. This was a progressive step for Rajasthan, as many candidates contest Panchayat elections. The contestants are usually role models at the local level and have the power to influence their community. The use of toilets by them and their family members can lead to a positive impact on the village community to ensure access to sanitation facilities.
Source – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/swachh-bharat-mission-lessons-from-rajasthan/