While the idea is laudable, the execution lacks imagination. Building toilets cannot be an idea by itself. It has to be holistic. There has to exist a sewage system and sufficient running water. When people do not have drinking water, using water to flush toilets is an utopian dream. Many toilets have been constructed which are now in disuse or used as storerooms.Mindsets have to be changed. Caste barriers have to be broken as in rural areas people believe that cleaning toilets is the exclusive function of dalits. "Convincing Indians of the benefits of any kind of toilet has been a secondary priority in official sanitation drives – the Modi government’s “Clean India Mission” has halved the spending on information, education and communication activities to 8 per cent of the total budget." ( http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-rejects-the-toilet-how-government-sanitation-drives-have-failed-to-sway-those-who-believe-10466041.html )
http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/one-year-of-swachh-bharat-and-its-been-no-clean-sweep/ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-08-03/india-s-toilet-race-failing-as-villages-don-t-use-them http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/10/08/why-many-indians-cant-stand-to-use-the-toilet/ Regards, Marshall I* support the PM expending the energy and the country's resources to pull the nation up from the top rather than pushing the nation up from the bottom. ?Should building toilet in every home be the nation's * *priority and take preference over building schools and colleges? ? And then what does one do with the brilliant minds? ...... Build toilets?Regards, GL* *Roland Francis wrote:Perhaps, but first he needs to give self-esteem to his own people by ?ensuring that more than 50% of them have the toilets they need to use.*
