Figures speak for themselves in India’s most populous city. Census 2011 data revealed that nearly 42% of Mumbai’s total population of nearly 1.3 crore, i.e. nearly 55 lakh people, live in slums and are thereby excluded from some of the most basic amenities — including guaranteed access to safe and clean toilets and water.
In 2011, when Jeremy Clarkson, the presenter of BBC’s hit auto show, Top Gear, lampooned the state of sanitation in India by driving around prime cities in his lavatory-fitted Jaguar, the show attracted widespread condemnation. Clarkson was accused of being racist by disgruntled Indians from around the world, whose fragile sensibilities were hurt by the unexpected and ill-humoured exposé that uncovered India’s repulsive reality. It even led to diplomatic outrage, with the Indian High Commission in London demanding an apology from the BBC for making India the butt of such “tasteless toilet humour.”
That a large section of India’s population — both rural and urban — is forced to defecate in the open because of the lack of basic sanitation facilities, is a fact, which has become so obvious, that we have become inured to it. So much so, that it disturbs our collective conscience only when a foreigner makes it the focus of global ridicule. Sadly, even this occasional outrage is never focussed on the real issue, never followed by decisive action, as we tend to close our noses and look away, leaving crores of Indians to continue to lead a life of indignity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), has without any doubt seen India make rapid progress since 2014, but we are still a long way from the cherished goal of making the country open defecation-free (ODF). Like its predecessors, the focus of SBM too, is squarely on toilet construction without considering community participation and inculcating a sense of ownership among the users.
