Toilet, A Luxury Or Taboo In India !

: Image by Omar Omar via Flickr

Paradip in Orissa, India is a port town. In the early morning, when I and many like me go for a walk in the coastline road, invariably encounter people of nearby slum dwelling on encroached land, attending call of nature in the road side. They even do not hesitate seeing us. This was the scenario in my village some ten years back. Now almost each family has a toilet in their home, thanks to the initiative by non-government organizations and Govt. collaboration. I do not understand the philosophy behind allowing slums to develop at the first place, try to evict them later on and fail, following a long protracted legal battle. There is perhaps a lot of local politics involved in it.

Open air defecation has its own hazards to the community as a whole. This habit is responsible for transmission of a number disease by face-oral route. These may be dysentery, worm diseases, typhoid and many more.

The main headache of people in the developing countries is earning the livelihood. When there is paucity of food who will think of putting a toilet in place! Govt. aid for the purpose is many a times biased by caste, it does not take poor as one class and so there is discrimination in providing the aid. Many always press for categorizing poor as one class irrespective of their caste, creed and religion; but there is also nasty politics involved in it. So, if the economic condition of people improves, they will think of having a latrine in their home. Some people have the taboo of having a toilet near the living rooms and kitchen, which is thought as unholy. This belief is changing fast in the rural India and linked directly to increase in number of toilets in the community.

A little political will is required, at least in India to enable people to have a toilet in each family by the way of improving their economic condition and a little persuasion.