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India’s Big Challenge: How To Stop Public from Relieving in the Open

November 3rd, 2007
By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist

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open toilet

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.”

More here…



This entry was posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Environmental Issues, Disease, Water, India, Asia, Technology, Society, Health, Education. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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