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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: 4, Insightful) by patella.whack on Tuesday August 16 2016, @07:53AM
A WaPo excerpt
But building toilets is the easy part. Getting people to use them is the real challenge, officials say.
“We never asked for a toilet. Now we are stuck with it,” said Natholi, 22, as he opened the squat toilet to show that it has not been used. His 62-year-old father peered in and shook his head. “Having a toilet so close to the house is not a good idea. The pit is too small; it will fill up quickly. I don’t want the bother of cleaning it up frequently. Going out to the open field is healthier. The open breeze outside is better than sitting inside this tiny room.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-is-building-millions-of-toilets-but-toilet-training-could-be-a-bigger-task/2015/06/03/09d1aa9e-095a-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html [washingtonpost.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cubancigar11 on Tuesday August 16 2016, @08:15AM
India is a poor country and it has spent past 800 years living under the rule of foreign powers which systematically dismantled whatever there was in India before they came.
What India suffers from is a constant struggle for people who have created their culture, rituals, customs and society based upon standards of slavery and the sheer resistance to leave it all behind for something better.
India gained its independence (at least in name) around 70 years ago and as per sociological theory of change, it takes 3 generations to usurp old ways of life.
The newer generation is cooked in the current media revolution so here is to hoping that the change is nigh.