In July 2012, the ministry of Urban Development of the Government of India published an advisory to cities about the challenges of sanitation and a national commitment to universal sanitation provision in urban India. In 2009 the Cabinet passed a policy on universal urban sanitation called the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, and released resources for a National Sanitation campaign. 400 cities were provided resources to undergo a city wide sanitation review and be- tween that survey and the census the picture of urban India is definitely DIRTY.
Clearly there are technical and financial challenges in dealing with provision of universal sanitation.
Firstly, the country does not have a universal commitment to treat sewerage and most cities lack sewerage management and hardly have sewers.
Secondly, if most areas of a city or town are deemed ‘slums’ and most of these are not recognized, the challenges are that they have no water and sanitation.
Thirdly, dense slums with houses less that 200 sq feet can hardly have toilets inside the house if there is no water and sewerage disposal. Yet ambivalence about community toilets makes this provision of sanitation impossible.
Fourthly, slums – which are every politicians vote banks – find that the possibility of a community toilet being built in their areas is one more location of a battle between parties to own and manage the toilet and often the community which should be managing this gets left behind.
And finally, no one who does not defecate in the open cares about the plight of those who do. The solution lies in a commitment to make sanitation universal, come what may.
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