National shame” is how most people, including some senior government functionaries, often refer to the pervasive practice of open defecation. Yet, the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), launched in 1991 with the noble objective of providing access to hygienic toilets for all by 2012, receives only scant attention from the government. The latest assessment indicates that as many as 22 states will miss the deadline for eliminating open defecation. Five states – Tripura, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Mizoram – are said to be to on their way to meeting the target; but even that claim seems disputable. According to a recent Planning Commission note on the issue, almost half of India’s population lacks access to proper lavatories. The problem appears to be more acute in rural areas, though urban slums are not much better off. Of India’s 600,000 villages, no more than 30,000 are said to be free from open defecation. Worst affected, predictably, are women. Moreover, it is a sad irony that a country boasting of a statutory right to education and free meals to schoolchildren is not prioritising proper, sanitary toilets in its schools.
Government apathy is clear also from the fact that most of the houses being constructed for the poor under the centrally-sponsored Indira Awaas Yojana have no provision for toilets — although it was decided as far back as 2006 to integrate this mass housing scheme with TSC. In fact, basic public health provisioning would require not just that these two schemes be dovetailed, but that the drinking water programme be taken up conjointly, too. By some estimates, nearly 1,000 children die every day of diarrhoea, the primary causes of which are unclean drinking water and a want of sanitation.
Taking belated note of this appalling state of affairs, the rural development ministry has reportedly sought a doubling of the budgetary support for the sanitation programme in the 12th Plan. However, even if this demand is met, the resources may not suffice, given that at least 50 million additional toilets need to be constructed to move anywhere closer to universal sanitation. Nor will any amount of money make up for apathy on the part of those overseeing the implementation of the scheme. The scale of the task is daunting. The government alone may find it difficult to meet the goal, given constraints on the state’s capacity. The involvement of the private sector or of non-governmental organisations – especially those involving women – should be carefully examined in order to increase the effectiveness of state action. Fortunately, improved designs and new models of toilets are also available, some designed in the private sector, which are cost-effective and need not be connected to sewer lines. The experience with pay-per-use toilets in various parts of India, moreover, shows that people are willing to pay for the use of facilities that are clean and properly equipped. A change in the government’s attitude towards sanitation is overdue; but it should be accompanied by a search for ideas and practices that have already been demonstrated to work.