NEW DELHI, Nov 20 (TNS): Indian Premiere, Narendra Modi, while hailing all those involved in building toilets In India, reaffirmed his government’s commitment to improving sanitation facilities across country.
World Toilet Day is an official United Nations international observance day, celebrated on 19th Nov to raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis.
More than half of households in India don’t have access to toilets, whether in rural areas or urban slums. Roughly 60 percent of the country’s 1.2 billion people still defecate in the open. And the consequences for women are huge.
A report in 2015 titled ‘It’s No Joke – State of the World’s Toilets’ by Water Aid stated that “If all 774 million people in India waiting for household toilets were made to stand in a line, the queue would stretch from Earth to the moon and beyond.”
According to the study released on the occasion of World Toilet Day on Thursday, the world’s second most populous nation has 60.4 per cent of its people without access to safe and private toilets.
“Since 1990, access has improved by 22.8 percentage points, putting India at seventh out of eight countries for improvement in South Asia.
New York Times in its report in March this year has said that more than just an ode to the commode, the film, “Toilet, a Love Story,” speaks to one of India’s most serious public health concerns. Toilets are a big issue in India these days: There aren’t enough of them for the country’s 1.3 billion people, and the national government is embarking on the biggest toilet-building campaign in the nation’s history.
Narinder Modi In a series of tweets said on Sunday, “On World Toilet Day we reaffirm our commitment towards improving sanitation facilities across the nation”.
“I compliment all those individuals and organisations working towards building more toilets in various parts of India. Their invaluable contribution adds solid momentum to Swachh Bharat Mission,” he tweeted.
According to NY times India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, troubled by how many Indians still relieve themselves in the open, has vowed to build a staggering 100 million new toilets.
The American daily says that all across the country, new latrines are going up, sometimes so fast they are not connected to anything, creating toilets to nowhere that are so fly-ridden and stinky that almost no one will use them.
There’s even a new mobile phone app telling people how to find the nearest john. “When nature calls,” billboards read, “use your phone!”. NY times added
