If the neighbouring Pakistan is struggling to get rid of its military dictatorship, a democratic India is battling to ensure that its teeming millions start using the loo and stop defecating in the open. You see the the developing countries have to battle on many fronts…each demanding immediate action!!!
The “loo” problem is so acute that New Delhi hosted World Toilet Summit recently which brought together experts from more than 40 countries to discuss ways of providing affordable sanitation for the world’s poorest people. The situation is aggravated as defecating in the open leads to pollution of land and water causing severe gastro-intestinal diseases.
India’s concerned minister revealed that the government would spend around £125m on rural sanitation projects this year, a increase of 43 per cent on last year. He said: “By 2012, India will be free of defecation in the open and will meet international commitments in this regard.” More here…
Since the 1970s, a leading NGO in India, Sulabh International, has developed simple composting toilets that turns waste into water, fertiliser for crops, and biogas that can be used to run generators or cook. This organisation has provided 6,500 public toilets, most recently in Kabul.
The World Health Organisation has estimated that around the globe up to 2.6 billion people – one third of the planet’s entire population – do not have access to proper toilet facilities. More than half of them live in China and India, with the latter accounting for around 700 million people. The UN’s target for providing proper facilities for all people is 2015.
But the problem is that it is quite expensive for most countries in the developing world to set up western-style toilets and sewage systems. Anita Jha, vice-president of Sulabh International (the organisers of the summit) explains, “We have several models of traditional Indian-style squat toilets. These range in cost from 700 to 3,000 rupees ($18 – $75) and also use very little water.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.