Half of India still defecates in the open... State of sanitation in the country in dismal shape

Shiba Nanda Basu, SNS, Kolkata, 8 June: Defecation in the open still remains rampant due to lack of water supply and shortage of cleaning staff in public lavatories, said Mr Bindheshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh Sanitation.

The Baduan gang rape case in Uttar Pradesh had not only exposed lack of security for women but also bares the sorry state of sanitaiton system that still persists in India.

During an interaction with journalists in the city, Mr Pathak said even after his four-decade fight against open defecation, the state of sanitation in the country is still in dismal shape. Even the UNICEF estimates that 594 million people in India defecate in the open, which is over 50 per cent of the population. In Bangladesh and Brazil the figure is only seven per cent.

Another problem that impedes the sanitation system in India is lack of water supply, said Mr Pathak.

According to civil society organisations in India, 33 per cent of general lavatories don't have water supply and staff to clean them. UNICEF estimates only 31 per cent of India's population use improved sanitation which is 21 per cent in rural India. Even a large number of women in India use railway tracks for defecation and run the risk of infection.

But Mr Pathak's fight for better sanitation system not only brought changes in public sanitation system, but helped in eradicating the practice of human scavenging in the caste-ridden India society, said a member of civil society organisation in the city. He said that gone are those days when women scavengers manually clean excreta from households and carry it physically, often on their heads, for disposal. The practice which they were performing for centuries was not only demeaning but it deprives them of their human rights, he said.

In the book Princes of Alwar, published by Mr Pathak, there are several instances how an effective sanitation system can improve a community and their situation. Mrs Lalta Nanda, a former scavenger in Alwar district of Rajasthan, said in the book: "I missed nothing, as I took it as my wont. All I missed was my dignity… wasted down they years."

But after the intervention of Sulabh and with an effective sanitation system her life changed forever along with others. From an untouchable she became the face of women empowerment. "Today I feel like a woman, a human, a mother," she was quoted in the book. Similarly, Mrs Usha chaumar, Mrs Neetu Goyar and other like them are now leading a life of dignity. Even the government of India has banned the word 'bhangin' which means women scavenger.

Mr Pathak said that he would ask the new government to implement effective and new system for sanitation that can open possibility for toilet-related business and entrepreneurship.