It would be wrong to assume that construction of a toilet in every house can curb the problem of open defecation in India. According to a new study, a significant number of people prefer to defecate in open despite having latrines in their houses. The study was conducted by the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (RICE), Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. It is unfortunate that the government has not been able to do much to influence them. Only 31 per cent of total respondents said that they had seen a poster, painting, pamphlet, street play or a film about the use of latrines. Moreover, only 16 per cent respondents had heard of village-level meetings on sanitation. The basic awareness for sanitation policies does not seem to have improved despite various programmes launched to promote use of latrines Aggressive promotion needed The country has continuously topped the chart for open defecation being practised by as many as 70 per cent of Indians in rural areas–or approximately 550 million people, according to UNICEF. Population density continues to remain a worry as hundreds of thousands of babies are killed due to diseases caused by lack of proper sanitation facilities and stunts the lives of millions who survive.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 20:00:56 +0000
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