Imagine your friend describing her toilet with pride as you walked through her home. Sounds odd, right? Well, in India this is slowly becoming the “norm” as more than 500 million people experience life with a toilet in their home for the first time. The change is the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Swacch Bharat” (Clean India) program, launched in 2014. Taking the Global Citizen festival stage, Modi broadcasted his goal for India to be open defecation free (ODF) by Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birthday in 2019, which would significantly reduce the slew of waterborne illnesses and health challenges that plague the country.
Since its inception, the campaign has faced some setbacks, but the dedication of the government is clear. To champion its execution, PM Modi recently appointed World Bank water and sanitation expert Parameshwaran Iyer to lead and the World Bank delivered a grant of $1.5 billion dollars to support sanitation efforts.
Furthermore, the government instituted a fine for open defecation to target perhaps one of the biggest challenges of the campaign: behavioral change. In the past, publicly funded toilets in India have gone unused because people are too used to defecating openly and may not understand its connection with the health issues they commonly experience. At approximately $4 USD per person, the fine is intended to discourage people from defecating in the open, since no one wants to have to pay to poo! Schools are also being used as a hub for intergenerational hygiene education. Toilets, hand washing facilities, and clean water will eventually be in all schools, with accompanying academic material about preventing WASH related diseases that can be shared with families.
It is hoped that improved management and the fines will make an impact and initiate a new chapter in the country’s sanitation efforts. There are many communities that have made great strides, now others just have to follow. The village of Nadia, in West Bengal, was the first village to become open-defecation free (ODF) in August of 2015 following Modi’s announcement. And more recently, the village of Ninwa constructed a whopping 234 toilets in the lightning speed of just three months!
For communities like Nadia and Ninwa, the Swacch Bharat program is not only leading to better health, it has also become a source of pride. There is still much work to be done to deliver on Prime Minister Modi’s promise. But each toilet that gets built and each village that ends open-defecation will lead the way to a cleaner, healthier India for all.