Indian children walked to defecate in an open field in a northern village in the Badaun
district of Uttar Pradesh, Aug. 31. — Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
India has a problem with toilets: Every second person relieves themselves outdoors, a
centuries-old practice that contributes to child malnutrition, economic loss and even
violence against women.
It’s a problem that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to fix by making sure every
home in the country has a toilet of its own by 2019.
The answer though, sanitation experts say, doesn’t lie only in building more bathrooms.
First, people need to learn to love using the latrine.
“Many people regard open defecation as part of a wholesome, healthy, virtuous life,” a
recent study conducted in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh
found. Researchers at the New Delhi-based Research Institute for Compassionate
Economics added that the practice is “not widely recognized among rural north Indians as a
threat to health .”
Those five northern Indian states account for 45% of the country’s households without a
toilet, according to data from the 2011 census. But even in homes where toilets were
installed, many people still prefer to go outside.
The RICE study found that out of 3,235 rural homes, 43% had a working toilet. Of those, over
40% had at least one member of the household who nevertheless opted to defecate in the
open. When asked why, almost 75% said they did so because it was pleasurable,
comfortable and convenient.
The government says it has recognized that it needs to address this mindset making it “top
priority” while setting out to build 110 million new toilets across swathes of rural India in
the next few years.
district of Uttar Pradesh, Aug. 31. — Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
India has a problem with toilets: Every second person relieves themselves outdoors, a
centuries-old practice that contributes to child malnutrition, economic loss and even
violence against women.
It’s a problem that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to fix by making sure every
home in the country has a toilet of its own by 2019.
The answer though, sanitation experts say, doesn’t lie only in building more bathrooms.
First, people need to learn to love using the latrine.
“Many people regard open defecation as part of a wholesome, healthy, virtuous life,” a
recent study conducted in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh
found. Researchers at the New Delhi-based Research Institute for Compassionate
Economics added that the practice is “not widely recognized among rural north Indians as a
threat to health .”
Those five northern Indian states account for 45% of the country’s households without a
toilet, according to data from the 2011 census. But even in homes where toilets were
installed, many people still prefer to go outside.
The RICE study found that out of 3,235 rural homes, 43% had a working toilet. Of those, over
40% had at least one member of the household who nevertheless opted to defecate in the
open. When asked why, almost 75% said they did so because it was pleasurable,
comfortable and convenient.
The government says it has recognized that it needs to address this mindset making it “top
priority” while setting out to build 110 million new toilets across swathes of rural India in
the next few years.
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