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10/10/2019

Topic Reading-Vol.2738-10/10/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Modi built 110M latrines -- but will people use them?
110 million latrines have been built in just five years in India to refrain 600 million people from defecating openly. Sounds like a historical achievement for the world’s second most populous country where open defecation has been still common in rural areas. But have they also established proper maintenance systems to keep those newly built toilets? And more importantly, are people really using them?
Open defecation is a major hygiene problem, especially for children. It is also a social problem for women and girls who are vulnerable to physical attacks. The Modi’s administration campaigned extensively to provide access to toilets to everyone, and at least, they seem to have achieved the campaign’s major goal. But unless those newly installed toilets are used and maintained properly, people will choose to go back to open field, bushes or railway tracks.
To change long-time traditions or practices, public education is no less important than just setting hardware. And it takes a long time for the effects of education to take place.
Still, there are a lot of houses with satellite TVs but without a toilet, and great number of people defecate openly with a smartphone in their hand in India.
By the way, China, the world’s most populous country, has run a similar campaign to clean pubic toilets to make the country more attractive to foreign visitors.
Enjoy reading the article and watching the video to learn about India’s initiative to modernize the country.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/05/asia/india-modi-open-defecation-free-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

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