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.
