Five innovative ways India is combating its toilet problem

Despite growing prosperity, India accounts for most of the world’s open defecation. Ahead of World Toilet Day on November 19, here are five unique ways India is attempting to tackle the problem. India has the world’s highest number of people who defecate in the open. Around 550 million people, or nearly half of the country’s […]

Despite growing prosperity, India accounts for most of the world’s open defecation. Ahead of World Toilet Day on November 19, here are five unique ways India is attempting to tackle the problem.

India has the world’s highest number of people who defecate in the open. Around 550 million people, or nearly half of the country’s population, relieve themselves outdoors.

People lack access to toilets, especially in rural areas, but many continue to believe that outdoor places are cleaner or more hygienic for defecation.

Attendant health risks accompany the problem. Open defecation is linked to diarrhoea and other illnesses, it causes stunted growth in children and it puts women at risk of attack outside their homes.

The government’s Clean India Campaign aims to end open defecation by building a toilet for every citizen by 2019.

Even as 82 million of the targeted 100 million toilets are yet to be built, experts are trying to change attitudes and behaviour since studies show that even people with access to the newly-built commodes continue to defecate in the open.

 

1. Children shame adults into using toilets

The government recently launched an unusual campaign that features children trying to shame adults into using toilets.

Officials say the Asli Tarakki ("Real Development" in Hindi) campaign strikes at the root of the problem – bringing about behavioural changes to promote toilet use. 

TV commercials and billboards show children ridiculing men who continue to defecate in the open even though they are no longer poor.

In one commercial, a boy taunts a man: "Uncle, you wear a tie around your neck and shoes on your feet, but you relieve yourself outdoors. What kind of progress have you made?"

"Children are a powerful change agent," a government official said. "Through their voices unpleasant truths can be accepted by society."

 

2. "No Toilet, No Bride"

In Haryana state, a campaign called "No Toilet, No Bride," launched in 2005, has significantly improved toilet access for women. The drive encourages women to shun potential grooms who do not use toilets and to demand the construction of a toilet prior to marriage.

In several cases, women, including newly-weds, divorced their husbands or left their homes because they were forced to go outdoors to relieve themselves.

In another case, female students in Bihar state last month foreswore gold jewellery until their parents built toilets in their homes, local media reported.

 

3. Garlands for offenders, walls of shame in villages

Earlier this year, police in India’s IT hub of Hyderabad launched a drive to stop public urination by embarrassing offenders. Police would garland offenders with flowers and take their photos.

"The ‘Shame Garland’ drive, as it came to be known, proved effective as violators felt guilty and promised never to pee in public again," said inspector T Ramaswamy, who headed the drive.

In similar initiatives, volunteers in Rajasthan took to beating drums to shame those peeing in public. Farmers in West Bengal last year threatened to set up "Walls of Shame" where they put up names and photos of people who answered the call of nature in the open.

 

4. Want to fight the elections? Prove you have a toilet.

An increasing number of Indian states have introduced unique new requirements for candidates running for local office: they must build and use a toilet.

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Chhattisgarh states passed laws in recent years requiring candidates for municipal and village elections to present proof they have a functional toilet at home.

Last year, a court threw out a challenge to a similar policy in the state of Gujarat, ruling that office-holders should serve as role models for citizens.

"Introduction of these laws displays political will to make the drive succeed," said Payal Hathi from the Research Institute of Compassionate Economics.

 

5. The do-it-yourself campaigners, villagers take charge

While several initiatives are aimed at building new toilets, other campaigns have emerged seeking to change the country’s centuries-old attitudes to toilet use.

Kunwar Bai Yadav, 104 years old, is credited for getting Dhamtari, her home district, declared free from open defecation. Yadav sold her only assets, including a few goats, to build a toilet at her home.

She started showing villagers the toilet and explained its importance, and soon many locals started building their own toilets.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently bowed before Yadav and touched her feet to express his appreciation for her work. (DPA)