I hate to do this to you. But
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/swac...80-doubling-coverage-from-start.550497/page-4. India is now 80 pc open defecation free and on track to be 99 percent free by septempber 2019.
While on the other hand
https://tribune.com.pk/story/163248...pen-defecation-leaves-punjab-reeling-reeking/. Paksitan is only making slow progress and has already falle behind India.
I have to call Bullsh*t on this one, sorry.
As in most of Indian media, a lot of this 'news' has no basis. See below article on real picture in India on the ground in 2018. This is in one of the richest states in India, Maharashtra with a 55% open defecation rate. The situation in poorer states like Odisha, MP, Bihar etc. are far, far worse, bordering closer to 70%. You can't just throw money at a problem, it needs managed approach by NGO's to train latrine users - like we do in Bangladesh. And look at the pattern of dhokeybaaji and 'safai' in the green comments below. We train Indian NGO's all the time, but seems more action is necessary. Modi's Swachh Bharat program has literally gone to the toilets....And Bangladesh has been open defecation
free since at least 2016.
Maharashtra: As brand new toilets stay shut, ODF status for Nandurbar only on paper
According to a 2012 survey conducted by the government, 50,25,369 (45 per cent) households in Maharashtra had access to toilets. In Nandurbar, 1.7 lakh households, both below and above the poverty line, were identified as having no toilets.
Written by
Tabassum Barnagarwala | Nandurbar | Updated: April 20, 2018 7:57:07 pm
A toilet built under Swachh Bharat Mission remains unused in Nandurbar. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)
Three months ago, the Dhadgaon Nagar Panchayat had approached Khemsing Pavara (33) to construct a toilet on his barren plot. Pavara was hesitant, as he was yet to construct a house on the plot. But the panchayat assured him Rs 17,000 for a toilet, and he gave in. Within a week of constructing the six-feet by six-feet toilet, with a door purchased for Rs 2,000, the brand new toilet seat and the iron door were stolen. The toilet has since been lying defunct.
The family of four now walks 500 metres, as they have done for years, to an open ground to defecate.
Last week, when state Minister for Water Supply and Sanitation Babanrao Lonkar had felicitated Nandurbar district for being open defecation free (ODF), Pavara was listed as one of the beneficiaries of government aid. “Even my neighbour defecate in the open. Their toilet has no septic tank,” he told The Indian Express. Several villagers complain of poor quality of toilet construction, forcing them to keep the toilets locked, he added. On Wednesday, the state government had declared that rural areas have attained ODF status with the construction of 60.41 lakh toilets — worth Rs 4,079 crore — over the last three-and-a-half years. “The thought of 55 per cent households living in rural areas with no access to toilets was very disturbing,” Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis had said while maintaining that all resources and manpower were pooled to build the toilets.
As per government guidelines, ODF is defined as “no visible feaces in environment” and “safe technology for disposal of faeces”. Under Swachh Bharat Mission, the Maharashtra government had set a target to gain ODF status for rural areas by 2018. Government figures of 2017-18 stated that 22.5 lakh households were covered across Maharashtra for toilet construction and there was 100 per cent coverage in
rural areas.
According to the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in Nandurbar, a tribal district, all households have toilets. District officials, however, claimed the actual coverage is 97 per cent. District records showed that 8,900 toilets are yet to be constructed in Nandurbar to cover the entire surveyed population. Pavara’s wife Meena said, “I don’t like going in the open. But we live in a rented room and the toilet here has no seat. There is just a hole in ground.”
Their two children, Roshni (4) and Rohan (2), do not usually wash their hands upon returning from the open air toilet. Nandurbar has the highest incidence of malnourishment in the state. A combined report of the World Health Organisation, Unicef and USAID in 65 countries, published in 2015, had found a direct co-relation between stunting among children and open defecation.
According to a 2012 survey conducted by the government, 50,25,369 (45 per cent) households in Maharashtra had access to toilets. In Nandurbar, 1.7 lakh households, both below and above the poverty line, were identified as having no toilets.
Locals in Nandurbar claimed that officials have been in a hurry to declare the district ODF. In 2017-18, 81,770 households were covered for construction of toilets in Nandurbar, more than twice the number in the previous year. In 2016-17, 34,979 and in 2015-16, 26,131 households were provided with toilets, district records stated.
“Each beneficiary is paid Rs 12,000 per toilet with two soak pits,” said Nandurbar Zilla Parishad’s Deputy CEO (Water Supply and Sanitation) Sarika Bari. “In areas near the Narmada river, where transportation is difficult, people carried construction material manually on their shoulders.” However, in Chimalkhedi village, nestled in the hills near the Narmada, tribal Noorji Vasawe said only 25 toilets have been constructed for 150 families. “We have been demanding a toilet ever since the Swachh Bharat Mission started. B
ut as no district officials come here, nobody knows that we have no toilets,” he added.
Vasawe and a few villagers have written to their block development officer for assistance in toilet construction. “There is no road leading to our village. Construction material will have to be carried by boat. Villagers can’t do it by themselves,” he said. In Sonkhurda village of Nandurbar, Saising Patle has had a toilet for three months but does not use it. “There is no water. The construction is poor… there is no outlet. This toilet will not stand even for a year,” Patle said. There are six members in his family, who all believe that toilet only occupies precious space.
“There are 200 toilets constructed in our village, all of poor quality,” Patle said.
In Nandurbar, which has the highest mortality rate due to malnutrition in the state, in December 2017 alone, among the 1.2 lakh children aged below six who were surveyed, 35,825 were found malnourished. Stunting, in which children’s height does not grow according to age, was also observed extensively. “Stunting, gastrointestinal infections and diarrhoea are inter-related. When a child gets infective diarrhoea repeatedly, it means his hygiene, sanitation and water supply are not good. Stunting is a form of chronic malnutrition, and open defecation has direct impact on it,” said health expert Dr Mridula Phadke.
There may not be enough money in villages. But they can eat well and live in a small house. India also has a scheme called MNREGA which guarantees every family an income of at least 100Rs(~1.5$) per day. This is enough for food, electricity, government schooling.
Please see article above for Maharashtra - which is one of the richest Indian states.
In the US, a poor guy would live on the streets or in trailers. In India, we have slums. A large migrant population turns into large slums.
The question is, why should these folk be given free money/accommodation by the government.
Incredibly elitist of you to pooh pooh these people when all they need is proper jobs and housing. Indian town planners have to own up to the mismanagement. Not surprising when you have Two million applying for 300 clerical jobs which is still going on today. And I'm talking educated folks not kamwaali bais and rickshaw pullers!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34276253