It is not an overstatement to say, as Union Minister for Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Jairam Ramesh has said, that India is the world’s capital for open defecation. It is very painful that even after six decades of Independence and remarkable strides in science and technology we are not able to provide the basic amenity of latrines for our citizens.
Our heads bow down in shame when we have to accept that over 50 per cent of our population defecates in open. This indignity is not confined only to rural areas, which still continues to be in utter neglect, but can be witnessed even in big cities, in slum clusters, near high-rise buildings, railway lines and roadsides. Can there be anything more shameful for a country which has been a centre of civilization, has plans to send man to conquer the moon and has a sizable stockpile of nuclear warheads. This shows how lopsided our priorities have been and how less regard we have for the poor and the downtrodden and their dignity.
Contrast this with the fact that about 63 per cent of our households have telephones and about 50 per cent TV sets. And also with the number of Internet users in the country that is increasing day in and day out.
A World Bank study has revealed that this neglect of toilet facility and lack of sanitation is resulting in diseases, productivity losses and even deaths which cause economic loss to a tune of Rs. 24,000 crore or in other words 6.4 per cent of our GDP.
In the light of these shameful facts one will only welcome the campaign of Jairam Ramesh to promote a sense of awareness about the need of providing this basic facility for all Indians. He has rightly said that it is a matter of shame, anguish, sorrow and anger that over 60 per cent of all open defecation in the world takes place in India.
Let all of us, citizens, social organisations, and governments and panchayats start a comprehensive campaign against inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene and open defecation. There should be a time bound programme, say of five years, of getting rid of this profanity and restoration of this basic dignity of poor Indians.