Toilets and Urinals

Have you ever complained about a toilet anywhere? Not so clean, not so dry, not so nice-smelling, not so something else? On November 19th 2014 and possibly every other day this year and forever after, thank your stars that you have one because 2.5 billion people in the world don't!

Of late, there have been plenty of discussions around the topic of sanitation, which have focussed on building toilets on a massive scale. These are in the aftermath of the new and recently released Millennium Development Goals Report 2014 by the United Nations that shows that India has the world's largest population that defecates out in the open, with it being as high as 66% in rural India [1

Nandatai and her 16 year old daughter Phula creep out of their houses quietly in the wee hours of the morning into the dark fields to relieve themselves before everyone wakes up. It is an everyday story as this is the only time in the day that they have privacy. “It is so shameful to go out in the fields during the day”, says Nandatai. “We have to hold our urine till it gets dark.

Since the rebranding of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan to the Swach Bharat Mission, newspapers have been flooded with articles and discussions on the need to improve the sanitation scenario in India.

PM launches the nationwide cleanliness campaign

Centre approves reconstituting the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan into Swachh Bharat Mission

J&K reels under the worst flood in 60 years

Ken-Betwa river link to take away 10% of MP's Panna Tiger Reserve

Higher monetary incentives for toilet construction and delinking sanitation mission from MGNREGS

Government identifies 11 states along Ganga for sewer link