Thursday 23 October 2014

Toilets in Villages

Educated people want  the masses to get 'socially awakened' ! It would be in order for the educated people to first watch, see and learnt in humility, instead of pushing their pet theories on people. Social, economic, religious ...

My village may not be 'typical'. The villages in Raayalseema are usually small caste based hamlets of 50-100 houses and there are fields around. As villages grow much larger they may start approximating towns and would need different strategies.

In 10-15 years I have seen no real issue with the open defecation being practised. At home we dug twin pits which could be used alternately (while the other 'composted'), and these pit latrines were satisfactory also.

The toilets which have been provided under govt schemes are in disuse because (1) people see no need (2) water is an limited resource.

These issues are very locale specific, and I am not generalizing. But I am strongly objecting to the generalizings I see.  

Dunu Roy says, "Firstly, don't confuse waste management with open defecation - the two are NOT the same. Secondly, there is NO evidence that open defecation results in higher rates of disease. None of your panelists has been produce evidence about that because there is none. If that had been so, then India would have the highest rate of disease and death in the world - it doesn't.
Thirdly, the BEST 'scientific' way for poo to degenerate is to expose it to sunlight and air, putting it down into a dark sewer or hole in the ground, along with substantial amounts of water, is the WORST way for it to decompose. (Which incidentally, is what the redoubtable government party spokesperson refers to by saying that earlier Indians - not just Hindoos - using to carry 'khurpis' [or tiny spades] while going out into the open, basically dig a small hole in the ground and to cover the turd with a thin layer of soil so that it does not come into contact with flies]. Fourthly and finally, therefore, the 'social awakening' is not required on the part of the masses but a little modicum of 'scientific thinking' on the part of these people who get on to television screens and talk more crap than is being delivered from the sky."

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