Where Are All The Toilets?

A woman collects human waste while cleaning a toilet

India is in the middle of a scarcity in toilets. Throughout the years, Indians have been using the fields and open spaces as their public toilet. It may be alarming for many of us readers to see this happening in India, though it is nowhere near a surprise for them. It doesn't bother them because it is so common for them and their lifestyle.

The two major places this issue affects are the people living in the slums and those that live in the villages. For those that live in the slums, their everyday routine consists of gathering water, a bucket of some sort and seeking a private area. They have to go through this trouble and even travel a bit just to relieve themselves.

For each slum there is maybe one or very few toilets. If every person in the slums were to use the few toilets they had, they would have to wait in long lines just to relieve themselves. Now they find them useless and barely thought of. Some Indians are repulsed by the idea of having a toilet, which they associate with uncleanliness. Since they are hardly used, they aren't even cleaned or taken care of anymore.

The Indian government have been establishing some campaigns in order to address the issue to find a possible solution, but haven’t been quite successful. Funding isn't what’s stopping the government from providing the slums with toilets. The problem is the land in which to provide for. Since Indian land is mostly occupied by slums, there is no room for piping for households to have individual toilets.

India’s government isn't taking initiative in providing the necessary resources for their country. The problem in not having enough toilets shouldn't be something the government should be hesitant about. A simple toilet is such an essential part of daily life, so the government should sacrifice its funding for the people in the slums, since funding isn't that much of an issue. If lack of land is the only hindrance that’s keeping the government from providing individual toilets for the slums, why not just build alternative housing for them, then do the necessary steps to input these toilets?

Another major area that’s impacted by this scarcity in toilets are the villages. Like those in the city, villagers have been relieving themselves out in the open, in this case, their farming fields. The problem here is the risk it puts on the lives of the young girls and women. Several studies have shown that women without toilets at home are vulnerable to sexual violence when travelling to and from public facilities or open fields. They have to go out at night or early in the morning while it’s still dark out to seek some privacy to relieve themselves, so it endangers their lives and puts them at risk for rape.

Since villages don’t have the problem with lack of land or space to input toilets, the problem is much more complicated. Villagers are also accustomed to not using toilets. In the past, the government has installed toilets in villages but they clearly didn't want them. Defecating out in the open seemed to develop as tradition so the villagers did not want to defy that tradition. Their attitudes towards toilet were so negative. Feces don’t belong under the same roof as where we eat and sleep.

Regarding the villagers, I think the Indian government is just being lazy. Since land, or anything really is not the issue, they should still continue providing toilets for the villages and somehow convince them to use these toilets. It seems to me as though the government doesn't care about their citizens. I’m sure they are aware of the risks for disease when it comes to open defecation and the continuous danger for women in the villages. Even the image of India as a whole is affected here. Simply taking control and giving their citizens the necessary resources to solve this problem isn't that difficult to accomplish.

All the Indian government has to do now is perform the necessary steps to give the slums what they need, being that money is not an issue, and convince the villagers that using these toilets are for their own good. Sure there are things the government will put at risk, like their budget , but we need to think of India as a whole, and that means providing for its citizens’ needs.