According to UN estimates, 1.1 billion of the world’s population have no access to sanitation and defecate in the open. Most of these people live in South Asian countries, especially India. The country contributes more than half of the world’s open defecation population and is notoriously known as the world’s capital for open defecation.
On the occasion of World Toilet Day on November 19, all eyes are on how India is attempting to eradicate open defecation by providing its citizens with access to toilets. The new government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been reinforcing its political commitment to the cause, creating widespread hope.
India’s efforts
After missing, by a wide margin, the “100 days” target of constructing one toilet per second, the government has set another ambitious target—constructing one toilet per two seconds in the next five years.
| Number of rural households without toilets (according to the 2011 census) - 113 million |
| Toilets constructed from 2011-12 to 2014-15 (till October) - 19.4 million |
| Number of toilets to be constructed in the next 5 yrs - ~ 94 million |
| Number of toilets to be constructed in one year - 18.8 million |
| Number of toilets to be constructed in a day - 51,507 |
| Number of toilets to be constructed in an hour - 2,146 |
| Number of toilets to be constructed in a second - 0.6 |
| This means, one toilet needs to be constructed every 2 seconds |