From the ramparts of Delhi's 17th-century Red Fort, Modi vowed that his administration was on track to meet its pledge of providing power and toilets to every household across the world's second most populous nation.
Modi drew praise in his first August 15 speech in 2014 as he tackled often taboo issues such as sexual violence and a lack of toilets, promising to build one for every household within four years.
"Today I can say that in such short time, more than 20 million toilets have been built in India's villages and more than 70,000 are free of open defecation," Modi said to loud applause.
Open defecation has long been a major health and sanitation problem in India, where almost 594 million people—nearly half the population—defecate in the open, according to UNICEF.
Modi has stressed the need to clean up India since storming to power in 2014 and has repeatedly urged every household to have a toilet to end the spread of disease and illnesses such as diarrhea.
(Score: 3, Informative) by julian on Tuesday August 16 2016, @04:22AM
It's amazing to me that a country with nuclear weapons, a country which could unilaterally kick off a species-ending nuclear holocaust, still has half its people shitting in the streets.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 16 2016, @04:31AM
Yes it's true, Detroit is a shithole.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 16 2016, @04:39AM
India has more than a billion people. There are more people in poverty in India than the whole of Africa. But then India also has billionaires.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 16 2016, @05:02AM
http://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/special-report/2016/01/31/the-forbes-billionaires-list-2016/ [cnbcafrica.com]
https://www.africanexponent.com/post/africas-billionaires-list-2016-1738 [africanexponent.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 16 2016, @04:57AM
"Nobody starves in a democracy."