TAKE ACTION TO LET EVERY HOUSEHOLD HAVE A TOILET

                                                                                    - By Milan K. Sinha

            There has been widespread protests through out the country against the hike in diesel prices &  the question of entry of FDI in retail. The PM in his broadcast to the nation tries to convince the countrymen that all these steps taken by the central government is to push the  economic reforms process for ultimate benefit of we all. The common man who has been  bearing the brunt of these decisions in the name of reforms is still living in an age which every policy maker/planner and the ruling political class should be thoroghly ashmed of. Please spare  only five minutes to go through the sordid & revealing facts  about the basic sanitation scenario still prevailing in the country despite more than six decades of five year plan:

• 638 million (more than 50% ) of Indian population of 1200 million plus  lack sanitation facilities.
• 60% people of India defecate in the open.
• This  is only 7%  in case of Bangladesh & Brazil
• India is termed as the world's capital of open defecation.
• More than 60% of households in Uttrakhand, Orissa, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,Jharkhand & Rajasthan are without toilets.
• Out of 2,40,000 Gram Panchayats in the country, only 28,000 Panchayats are declared as "Nirmal Gram" under the  programme named "Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan."
• Sikkim has the honour of becoming the first state in the country which is Open-Defecation Free. Kerala & Himachal Pradesh will soon be in that bracket. 
• Many of the states fail to utilise the  money allocated/earmarked for providing the toilet facilities to its deprived masses.

        By any scale of analysis & judgement, this is absolutely disgraceful & completely unacceptable. Even Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister did term it as a matter of shame & sorrow, anguish & anger. The impact of this unfortunate state of affairs are many & multi-dimensional on our health & hygiene and also on our economic prosperity - an issue  about which the ruling alliance at the centre talks time & again while advocating FDI entry in retail. No doubt, state governments have the prime role to play  in this direction which we all should demand as our Basic Human Right. 

                        Will meet again with Open Mind. All the Best.

  *We shall continue to be on the subject in our next post.