Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has received fresh impetus. The Ministry of Urban Development has decided to give Rs. 4000 to every household without a toilet. This is to help such households build a properly functioning toilet. In addition to the amount given by the Ministry of Urban Development, state governments will also shell out an additional incentive for the plan.
The above mentioned funds will be allocated to all households across India. This will also include unauthorized colonies as well as notified or non-notified slums. The moves comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the need to build more toilets rather than temples.
The identified households will be given Rs. 2000 initially. The remaining amount will be issued only after photographs of under construction toilets are sent to the ministry and personal verification is carried out by the concerned local body. But building toilets is deemed as only half the job done. Spreading awareness about the hazards of defecating in the open also needs to be prioritized.
A similar effort has been carried out by Social Awareness Newer Alternatives (SANA), a Delhi based NGO, which is headed by Sanchaita Gajapati Raju. The NGO won the inaugural Google Global Impact Challenge India Award in 2013 for providing clean water and sanitation in villages across coastal Andhra Pradesh. The highlight of SANA’s several social welfare initiatives has been their focus on construction of bio-toilets which are maintained on a regular basis.
The government of India can also work on similar lines and come up with ways of ensuring that the trickledown effect of such schemes actually reaches the masses. More than building toilets, the focus should be on sustaining the habit of using toilets. Despite building thousands of toilets, a major part of the population continues to defecate in the open. The key thing here is to change the habit and the overall thought process.
