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[JonnyDBrit]

“Going to the toilet has become very political,” said Mr. Koshle. “You can’t imagine the hostility we’ve encountered.”

This makes me wonder why is a toilet political is there any notation behind using the toilets in India

Read the first quote:

The toilet-building frenzy, tallied on a government website, shrouds a bigger problem: many who get toilets don’t use them. Some consider it impure to use indoor toilets. At times, fathers-in-law refuse to share toilets with their daughters-in-law.

In houses unconnected to sewage systems—the majority of village residences—people worry about cleaning latrine pits, a job associated with those formerly known as “untouchables.” Others don’t see the need to change.

“I like to take a walk,” said Luv Nishad, 35, a laborer in the village of Nagar, “and do my business away from where we sleep and pray.”

Tl;dr, as a purely functional tool in a deeply traditional society it inadvertently runs up against expectations of association.

 

[FreeMufasa]

Diarrhea can kill you??

Used to laugh at this notion till I got the shits a few years ago. Yes it can fucking off ya

 

[Kthulhu]

get your shit together india

Why do you think they're trying to build toilets?

On a serious note, this is madness. I would never imagine a culture where people fight against basic plumbing and sanitation.

 

[dan2026]

Throwing corpses in the river seems like a bigger issue. Madness that they don't understand what a health hazard this could cause.

 

[Jumeira]

Squatting is superior. They should install squat toilets instead of Western, the latter increasing colon cancer risk IIRC. Squatting clears your tubes more and is easier.

This is true. Its healthier, better for your bowels and reduces risk of cancer, our bodies were built to poop squatting. Need to invest in a stool that allows you to apply pressure and tension on the bowles using normal toilets

 

[Tugatrix]

Did they hire the sochi guys to build them the bathrooms? Those father in law are "creazy"

 

[Charles Brandon]

Throwing corpses in the river seems like a bigger issue. Madness that they don't understand what a health hazard this could cause.

Indians tend to be more fatalistic about death. And so, while they may lack understanding of the health issues, they also may not be concerned if they do understand.

 

[mdubs]

Any bigger area that wasn't the walkway. To be fair, they do catch most of them before the act but sometimes happens.

So people trying to poop in the aisle during the flight.

What in the hell

 

[TeamLeftMatch]

Read the first quote:


Tl;dr, as a purely functional tool in a deeply traditional society it inadvertently runs up against expectations of association.

If it's something kind of traditional is there anyway the government can get people to use the toilet

 

[ponpo]

My friend who worked for Emirates airline said they had to force people to use the plane toilets on some flights when she was working in the Middle East/Asia. Said a lot of people had basically no modern manners whatsoever, spitting in the walkway as well.

Strange that there is that modern clash. These nations might look rich at times but reality is they are still way behind in the general public.

India with a Space program!

What the heck.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Very shitty question: If a house has one of those squatting shitters I routinely encountered in India, is that counted as a house with a toilet? They still have modern plumbing which is the bigger deal in terms of sanitation and life extension.

Might actually be healthier for your bowels to shit that way too according to some new studies.


40% to 60% just since 2014 seems pretty good though, even if it slows down by 2025ish maybe things should be pretty toileted.

 

[Skellig Gra]

I needed a good laugh. Good to see other countries have insane political issues too

Nothing funny about this.

 

[Twilight Princess]

then first time you see a man taking a shit in the street in India is quite the culture shock

not if you've been to San Francisco

 

[moltonasty]

get your shit together india

underrated post

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

Puts the gaf arguments over how to wipe your ass into perspective.

 

[Kurtofan]

My friend who worked for Emirates airline said they had to force people to use the plane toilets on some flights when she was working in the Middle East/Asia. Said a lot of people had basically no modern manners whatsoever, spitting in the walkway as well.

Strange that there is that modern clash. These nations might look rich at times but reality is they are still way behind in the general public.

India with a Space program!

Where did they go on the plane

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

in some countries, they politicize toilets, and people in other countries make fun of them.
people in those other countries politicize vaccines and don't see the issue

You are my new favorite person

 

[Ogodei]

There's that factor, both in that people don't necessarily know what to do, and overcomplicate the significance of the situation. In addition though, in a society like India's where the caste systems of old are still heavily influential, and a lot of tradition on how people of differing genders are meant to interact, a purely neutral and utilitarian thing as a toilet runs into problems.

For all his faults - and damn if he doesn't have quite a few - this is something where I fo find some respect for Modi. Silly as it seems in the West, this is important for improving the country's healthcare and standards of living across the board.

Modi seems to have genuinely been focused on economic modernization since becoming PM and largely left the culture-wars stuff to the side. He still probably needs to answer for the Gujarat Pogrom, but the guy at least seems to understand that divisive right-wing politics do you more harm than good, electorally. Especially in a country as diverse as India where you need diversity in your political base or you're sunk.

 

[kirblar]

India also has massive issues with lead poisoning- it's still in their paint.

 

[Madness]

Menstruating girls get raped and killed changing their pads in dark dodgy places away from their homes.

It might sound funny on a surface level but the reality isn't.

Yup. Women especially will benefit because many are shamed from having to squat nude or remove their clothes to do their business in the bushes.

Additionally, there are only cultural norms and traditions that would be challenging this, otherwise the societal and health benefits are numerous. The open defecation of hundreds of millions of humans has caused E.Coli and Botulism toxins to leech into groundwater and rivers. Almost all the water in India unless you have it treated through reverse osmosis and chemicals will have fecal matter, everything from bottled coke even has been tested to have it.

Will be crazy to see if Modi can push hundreds of millions towards toilet use.

 

[MercuryLS3]

then first time you see a man taking a shit in the street in India is quite the culture shock

As an Indian, i was like "welp, time to go back to Canada".

 

[BannedEpisode]

This is a huge problem. It's easy to laugh about it but it is a health crisis that needs to be resolved if India wants to advance as a modern country.

Consider the fact that there are around 490 million people who regularly defecate outdoors in India.

Imagine if every single person that lives in America, plus an additional 170 million people, pooped outdoors.

Now imagine that our country was 1/3 the size.

That's mind boggling to think about.

 

[Dabanton]

My friend who worked for Emirates airline said they had to force people to use the plane toilets on some flights when she was working in the Middle East/Asia. Said a lot of people had basically no modern manners whatsoever, spitting in the walkway as well. !

And even then it could get even worse. My SO's cousin is a pilot who also does the middle east/Asia routes and he said on a few occasions on flights to and from India, a few people had left shit in the sink, there were foot marks where people had tried to squat over the sink. Probably from trying to wash their bums after shitting. There was in some cases actually shit all over the walls and the floor.

 

[Nivash]

My guts were wrecked for 10 out of the 8 weeks I spent in India (not a typo). I stepped in human shit on the sidewalks of Mysuru - officially named as "the cleanest city in India" - while wearing sandals. I also came down with what I think was Dengue fever. Still can't recommend India enough for anyone looking for something truly different and off the beaten tourist path to visit.

But yes, they have horrifying environmental issues, and the severe lack of sewer systems is a big part of it. But it isn't easy to fix. Before I went, I happened to attend a lecture by a missioner's son who grew up in what was then Rhodesia. He described how a colonial officer had decided to make sure that all the inhabitants of his district had outhouses and started a massive building campaign. Soon enough, there was an ample supply of seemingly perfectly fine outhouses of British standard. Cut to a few months later and the officer decided to tour the district to inspect his accomplishment. He was enraged to find that all the outhouses had been abandoned. Why? Because they simply didn't work: they stank horribly in the tropical heat and attracted massive amounts of disease-bearing flies and other insects, something that wasn't anywhere near as much of a problem in the temperate British Islands where they were designed. The locals wisely decided to give them a wide berth.

The point of the story was that trying to impose western-style solutions from on high rarely works. You need to build it from the ground up. In India, that means both taking local cultural aspects into account (or the people will just rebel against the imposition, as they do in the article) as well as make sure that there's a sustainable maintenance of the necessary infrastructure. It's possible this might require other solutions than simply installing toilets in evey house. It's incredibly challenging for India in particular because it's still a highly heterogenous country where the central government is very far from having the kind of control most people assume. This is particularly emphasised in poorer regions. Corruption is high and local governments and non-governmental groups - who often hold most of the real power - might have other priorities.

Yup. Women especially will benefit because many are shamed from having to squat nude or remove their clothes to do their business in the bushes.

Additionally, there are only cultural norms and traditions that would be challenging this, otherwise the societal and health benefits are numerous. The open defecation of hundreds of millions of humans has caused E.Coli and Botulism toxins to leech into groundwater and rivers. Almost all the water in India unless you have it treated through reverse osmosis and chemicals will have fecal matter, everything from bottled coke even has been tested to have it.

Will be crazy to see if Modi can push hundreds of millions towards toilet use.

This is very true. I worked in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, where the ground water had been contaminated to the point that it was completely impossible to drink for anyone, local and foreigner alike. The government actually used tanker trucks to bring in water from the outside which had been purified with UV and filters.

 

[G.ZZZ]

Crazy how Gandhi was going around in India and the first thing he did everytime he arrived in a village was to teach people how to build a toilet and use it and standard hygiene. And still, after almost 80 years, the same problem still persist.

 

[ZealousD]

Squatting toilets? You must be thinking of another asian country. Japan is the home of the most advanced high-tech toilets known to mankind.

Japan has both. They have in-floor squat toilets and they have sit-down Western toilets with electronic control panels. No in-between.

 

[GurgleBot20]

Holy hell, I read the quote in the OP that said "hundreds of millions" and thought, that's not right, and then looked up the population of India.

I mean, I knew India had a large population, but we're talking about trying to get a subset of a total population that is larger than the population of the United States to upgrade their basic hygiene, and that cannot be a simple task.

 

[itsbenoclock]

Any bigger area that wasn't the walkway. To be fair, they do catch most of them before the act but sometimes happens.

I assumed that would be the answer but really needed that clarification, thanks. WOWZA.