Swachh Bharat: India needs to look beyond building individual toilets

India has to be careful so that the project does not interfere with its efforts to boost gender equality

Lovers built the Taj Mahal for their love. But I couldn’t build a loo.” So says Keshav, the lead character of a new Bollywood movie, after his wife leaves him for failing to build a toilet in their home. The film, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, is a commercial film in support of governmental campaigns to improve sanitation in India.

Access to sanitation has attracted more attention in India over the past few years thanks to the Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission). Launched in 2014, this project seeks to make the country free of “open