Its 6.30 am,
Am in the comfort of warm porcelain. The news paper has been replaced with a swanky tab that keeps me entertained while things process. A new prompt for Indiblogger arrives. Toilet for Babli, it reads. Every day , about 600 million people defecate out in the open. To help you put that number in perspective , its equal to the number of active What's app users around the world.
Am in the comfort of warm porcelain. The news paper has been replaced with a swanky tab that keeps me entertained while things process. A new prompt for Indiblogger arrives. Toilet for Babli, it reads. Every day , about 600 million people defecate out in the open. To help you put that number in perspective , its equal to the number of active What's app users around the world.
The figures make
me uncomfortable. Uncomfortable because I know it’s an issue , I know it’s a
problem , and I know many more privileged like me I have never even given a
second though. But the problem persists and ignoring it just doesn’t make it disappear.
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| source |
Since I am
no sanitation expert I referred to Google to help me gain some insight. At first
I thought that health is the only hazard posed by open defecation. I came
across issues like various diseases, most notably diarrhea and intestinal
worm infections but also typhoid,
cholera,
hepatitis,
polio,
trachoma
and others find it traces back to open defecation.
For example,
infectious diarrhea resulted in about 0.7 million deaths in children under five
years old in 2011. It can also lead to malnutrition
and stunted
growth in children. Around the world open defecation is a leading
cause of diarrheal death; 2,000 children under the age of five die every day,
one every 40 seconds, from diarrhea .
Young
children are particularly vulnerable to ingesting feces of other people that
are lying around after open defecation, because young children crawl on the
ground, walk barefoot and put things in their mouths without washing their
hands.
Understandably
open defecation is a ticking time bomb. But it’s not just a question of health
but also a question of safety. Mainly women. The situation grim and requires attention.
Women need to venture out in odd hours to answer natures call and are just sting ducks for crime. They are
robed of their productivity , dignity and their safety just because they don’t
have a safe place to go. Google animal attack’s and rapes related to lack of toilets
and you will be in for a shock.
To help you put things in perspective I have summed
up startling facts and figures to give you a quick understanding of the flushed
out state of women is in our country.
According to
statistics,
- As of today India is short of 636millin latrines.
- On a given day women around the world with poor sanitation systems spend more time looking for a safe place to ‘go’ than the whole world spends on YouTube. Only if that time was put to better use.
- The situation is more venerable for women, as over 66% rapes in India occurred in the last decade when women and little girls were out at odd hours answering natures call and were easy victims.
- Below the moonlit sky , with beetles and crickets for company they have to venture out in the open filed to relieve themselves. But never really sure of who is watching. Who is ready to make them their next target. A wild boar, a hyena or a sick pervert. Easy prey.
The situation
need attention and it needs attention now. The government and independent bodies
are both doing a considerable job to make the situation better. But with a mammoth
problem like this one, it need all the help it can get. Realizing this urgency the
Corporate sector is coming forward as a part of their social responsibility program
and making India a safer place one flush at a time.
One such
commendable initiative has been take over by the leading giant HUL. Domex,
HUL’s flagship sanitation brand, currently runs the Domex Toilet Academy (DTA)
programme. Domex Toilet Academy was launched on 19th November 2013. It aims to
become a sustainable and long-term solution to provide sanitation that benefits
the local community and helps stimulate the local economy. The Toilet Academy
makes toilets accessible and affordable, while promoting the benefits of clean
toilets & good hygiene. Our effort has resulted in bringing the change in
the villages of Maharashtra and Orissa and we aim to build 24000 toilets by
2015 in rural areas faced with the problem of open defecation.
Collectively
, things can get better and you can help too. You can bring about the change in
the lives of millions of women and kids, thereby showing your support for the
Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on
your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live
a dignified life.
Thank you.
1 comments:
The cartoon says it all in one word.. sorry state of affairs in India
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