India's Toilet Statistics Stink When It Comes To Access & Safe Use For Women

The Swacch Bharat mission is a colossal one. Over the last two years toilets have made headlines, and even a bollywood film. But the statistics stink. Women particularly are at the centre of this very basic challenge as they not only are wanting to have more loos to go to (both in rural and urban India) but they also want safety so they can access them with out fear.

564 million people, that’s just under half the population in India, do not yet use a toilet.

They go out in the open in open fields, railway tracks, garbage dumps, parks and roadside ditches.

In 2015 it was estimated that 2.4 billion people globally had no access to improved sanitation facilities. Of them, 946 million defecate in the open. Of these 564 million live in India.

In rural India, where 61% of the population defecate in the open

In urban India, 10% of the population practice open defecation

In Bangladesh, only 5 per cent of rural people defecate in the open, significantly lower than that in India.

Toilet use is not just important for the health of children, but for national progress.

Almost 400 children in India die every day from diarrhoea linked to poor sanitation.

As many as 23% Indian girls are deemed to have dropped out of school on reaching puberty because of the lack of menstrual and bathroom facilities.

According to the World Bank, poor sanitation causes India economic losses amounting to 6.4% of India’s GDP in 2006 or USD 53.8 billion (Rs. 2.4 trillion) per year, which is equivalent to USD $43 for every Indian per year.

Based on findings from NSSO’s Swachhta Status Report, The Hindu says that access implies usage. The survey found that among the households having a sanitary toilet, 95.6 percent people were using it.

Eliminating Open Defecation in India by 2nd October 2019 – the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi – is one of the key aims of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan movement