Gati Foundation

Dehradun, Uttarakhand (India)

www.gatifoundation.org

THE TOILET MANIFESTO Understanding Policy Outlook, Key Challenges

and Opportunities in the Sector of Public Sanitation

Policy Paper

January 2018

2

Advisor and Direction: Anoop Nautiyal (Founder Chairperson)

Editor: Ashutosh Kandwal (Co-Founder)

Author(s): Rishabh Shrivastava and Namrta

About the Author(s): Rishabh is a policy analyst with Gati Foundation. Namrta

serves as a research associate with the Foundation.

Gati Foundation, a Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand based organization, is a research and

policy oriented, evidence based and “go-to ground” think-tank. Looking at

development through the prism of sustainable development in the Himalayas,

Gati has been working in the field of public health, natural resource management,

social development, gender empowerment and urbanization. It believes in the

doctrines of three A’s - analysis, advocacy and action – that lead to sustainable

and tangible changes. The Foundation has pledged to adopt a participatory

approach, engage with citizens, undertake policy research and facilitate better

standards of governance.

© 2018 Gati Foundation

Material from this publication can be used, but with acknowledgement.

Published By:

Gati Foundation

69 Vasant Vihar, Dehradun

Uttarakhand (India)

www.gatifoundation.org

Email: reach.gati@gmail.com

3

Executive Summary:

n 2015, the United Nations adopted the new Sustainable Development Goals with, among

17 goals, one being universal access to safely managed water and sanitation to be achieved

by 20301 which will require $150 billion per year to be spent by the countries. For

achieving SDGs by 2030 and with its impact on so many aspects of human and economic

development, sanitation will be an issue for great consideration.

Similarly, in India there have been multiple campaigns initiated by Government of India. The

most hyped one has been the recent Swachh Bharat Mission which was launched by the Prime

Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. The mission aimed at making India open defecation free by

2019 and it focussed a lot on initiating structured reforms in the area of solid waste

management, sanitation and hygiene. Many cities in India have been declared open defecation

free and toilet construction is taking place at a rapid pace. The campaign has brought forward

the agenda of cleanliness and sanitation at a national level. Representatives from various

countries are praising the current government for the approach with it which it is engaging with

and implementing this campaign at the grass root levels.

This paper tries to present a holistic outlook to the subject of public sanitation. It engages with

the topic at various levels. Firstly, the report highlights the international scenario with respect

to the public sanitation. Secondly, it covers the Indian policy perspective on the subject matter

of public sanitation. It discusses various national missions and campaigns that were launched

by the government in order to introduce reforms in the sector of water and sanitation.

Lastly, the paper examines the Uttarakhand state scenario with respect to the public sanitation.

The paper lays down the components of various programmes that were launched by the state

government.

The paper presents a unique approach by highlighting four different case studies from four

different states. The last case study (number four) is of Dehradun and is conducted by Gati

Foundation as a part of conducting the social audit for the public toilets of Dehradun. In the

end, the paper suggests some practical and innovative set of recommendations to overcome the

challenges that are persisting in this sector of water and sanitation.

*****

1 http://www.thinktank-resources.com/en/themes/access-to-sanitation

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Table of Contents

Chapter Page

Number

Executive Summary 3

International Scenario Dealing with Public Sanitation 5

Making Case for Public Sanitation in India 7

Overview of Public Sanitation in Uttarakhand 16

Recommendations 19

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I. International Scenario Dealing with Public Sanitation

(Sustainable Development Goal No. 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all)

The Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (hereinafter referred as WSSCC) under

the umbrella of the World Health Organisation in Geneva succeeded in including sanitation as

one of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (hereinafter referred as MDGs), at the 2002

World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

Out of 1.1 billion individuals, which constitutes 17 percent of the world’s population, are living

without improved water and more do not have access to safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion

constituting 41 percent do not have access to sanitation. Many of the world’s school are without

water or toilets resulting in worm infections, cognitive and developmental problems to around

40 percent of the world’s school-age children. As per estimation, 5,000 children die every day

from diseases because of lack of safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene

(WSSCC, 2004). Women and children are more vulnerable groups. Due to lack of toilets, more

than 50 percent of girls drop out of school in some nations.2

946 million people around the world still defecate in open. At the top of the list is Eritrea with

77% of population practising open defecation, which can lead to the contamination of drinking

water sources, and the spread of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, hepatitis A and typhoid.

The largest decrease in the proportion of the population practising open defecation has been

achieved by Eritrea’s neighbour Ethiopia from 92% in 1990 to 29% in 2015 by the effort of

their government’s plan of action to stop practising open defecation. Globally it is estimated

that 2.4 billion people primarily living in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the

Caribbean still lack improved sanitation. Sub-Saharan Africa failed to match progress with

2Institute of Medicine (US) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine. Global

Environmental Health: Research Gaps and Barriers for Providing Sustainable Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

Services: Workshop Summary. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2009. 5, Achieving Water and

Sanitation Services for Health in Developing Countries. Available at

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50770/#_NBK50770_pubdet

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rapid population growth resulting in increase in numbers without access to sanitation since

1990 to 17% of the population.3

MDG did not meet the target to extend access to improved sanitation from 54% of the global

population in 2000 to 77% by 2015. “No or limited” progress have been achieved by around

57 countries. Only four developing regions met the target: the Caucasus and central Asia,

eastern Asia, northern Africa, and western Asia. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan African and

South Asia are really behind.”4 Only 1 in 3 individuals in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,

1 in 2 in East Asia, 1 in 10 in Jakarta and Manilla has access to sanitation. Sanitation is still

left behind in developing countries public policies. Almost half of global progress on sanitation

is represented by China and India. Since 1990, 593 million people in China and 251 million in

India managed to get access to improved sanitation facilities. China makes up to 95% of all

sanitation improvements in eastern Asia5.

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the new Sustainable Development Goals with, among 17

goals, one being universal access to safely managed water and sanitation to be achieved by

20306 which will require $150 billion per year to be spent by the countries.7 In 2015, 39% of

the global population (2.9 billion people) used toilet or improved latrine, not shared with other

households, a safely managed sanitation service with a system in place to ensure that excreta

are treated or disposed of safely. 27% of the global population (1.9 billion people) used private

sanitation facilities connected to sewers from which wastewater was treated. Still 2.3 billion

people do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Of these, 892 million

still defecate in the open leading to Inadequate or poor sanitation, 280000 diarrhea deaths

annually and several neglected tropical diseases, including intestinal worms and also

contributes to malnutrition. The countries with most defection have the highest number of

deaths of children aged less than 5 years and highest levels of malnutrition and poverty, and

big disparities of wealth.8 For achieving SDGs by 2030 and with its impact on so many aspects

of human and economic development, sanitation will be an issue for great consideration.9

3 Access to clean water and sanitation around the world, 2017. Available at https://amp.theguardian.com/global-

development-professionals-network/2015/jul/01/global-acce ss-clean-water-sanitation-mapped 4 Access to clean water and sanitation around the world, 2017. Available at https://amp.theguardian.com/global-

development-professionals-network/2015/jul/01/global-acce ss-clean-water-sanitation-mapped 5 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN-DESA 6 http://www.thinktank-resources.com/en/themes/access-to-sanitation 7 Millions Around the World Held Back by Poor Sanitation and Lack of Access to Clean Water, 2017. Available

at http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/08/28/millions-around-the-world-held-bac k-by-poor-

sanitation-and-lack-of-access-to-clean-water 8 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs392/en/ 9The World Bank Working for World Free of Poverty Toggle navigation Understanding Poverty, 2017. Available

at http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/sanitation

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II. Making a Case for Public Sanitation in India

(Open Defecation Free drive was launched by PM Shri Narendra Modi under the Clean India Mission.)

Sanitation, a development issue and an empowerment tool for the development of society.

Access to sanitation facilities is one of the key indicators for human development, which

continues to be a big challenge for the governments, as well as civil society in developing and

under developed countries. As a result, millions of people forced to defecate in bags, buckets,

fields or the roadside. Number of people lacking sanitation is much higher than that recorded

by WHO (World Health Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) data.10

There have been multiple campaigns initiated by Government of India. The first programme

was Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP), 1986 which focused solely on sanitation.

Later, keeping in mind the limitations of the CRSP, Government of India initiated Sector

Reforms in 1999 which stressed on the empowerment of local communities to ensure their

participation in the operation and implementation of sanitation schemes drinking water

supply.11 In 1999, the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was launched realizing the suggested

reforms in the sanitation sector with objectives to:

Accelerate sanitation coverage.

Use awareness and health education to generate demand.

Undertake efforts to prevent water borne diseases.

sanitation facilities in all schools and anganwadi (child care centres) in rural areas

Technology development and application to be cost effective.

10 Dietvorst, C. D. (n.d.). dietvorst | Sanitation Updates. Sanitation Updates | News, Opinions and Resources for

Sanitation for All. Available at: http://sanitationupdates.wordpress.com/author/dietvorst/ 11 India: A Case Study – Related Best Practice or Lessons Learned in Water & Sanitation, 2003

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School sanitation special emphasis laid on toilets for girls in schools.

For promoting sanitation facilities, emphasis was on Information, Education and

Communication (IEC) and for encouraging a wider acceptance of these practices, it emphasised

on school sanitation and hygiene education.12

Gender is a particular focus in the TSC recognizing the role of women in sanitary sector being

the primary collectors, transporters of domestic water and promoters of domestic sanitary

activities. One of the components of TSC is construction of Women Sanitary Complexes in a

place in the village acceptable and accessible to women.13

TSC was renamed Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in 2012 and relaunched as Swachh Bharat (Clean

India) mission in 2014 to create a 'Clean India' by 2019. Each day, about 100,000 tons of human

faeces are found in the open14. Over 40 per cent of government schools in India do not have a

functioning toilet15. According to Census 2011, only 32.70 per cent of rural households have

access to toilets. Worldwide, India has the highest number of people defecating in the open, at

597 million16.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2014-19 has the following objectives:

Elimination of open defecation;

Eradication of manual scavenging;

100 percent collection and scientific processing/disposal of municipal solid waste;

Generate awareness among citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health;

Create an enabling environment for private sector participation in capital and operation

expenditure.

The Mission provided priority to sanitation and hygiene and aims at complete elimination of

open defecation, constructing public and community toilets, maintenance of toilets, municipal

solid waste management, cleaning of roads and pavements and encouraging people to be

conscious of cleanliness. The Swachh Bharat Mission is one of the biggest ever drives to

accelerate efforts towards eliminating open defecation, achieving universal sanitation coverage

and improving cleanliness by October 2, 2019.17

In dense urban settlements due to a multitude of reasons such as tenure, space constraints,

financial factors, and so on, community toilets (CTs) play a very crucial role in providing

sanitation facilities to the urban poor and, to a large extent, form an effective alternative for

12India’s Total Sanitation Campaign, 2017. Available at https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/total-

sanitation-campaign-india/ 13 India: A Case Study – Related Best Practice or Lessons Learned in Water & Sanitation, 2003 14UNESCO, 2015. Education for All. Available at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-

international-agenda/education- for-all/. 15UNICEF, 2015. Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation. Available at

http://www.wssinfo.org/ 16 WHO, 2014. Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2014 Update, Geneva: World Health Organisation.

Available at http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP_report_2014_webEng.pdf 17 Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) Towards Cleaning India: A Policy Perspective, Feb. 2016

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improving sanitation coverage for these households. The success of these toilets has been

mixed when judged on use and maintenance aspects. Due to inadequate financial and human

resources, and inappropriate institutional incentives, many of the CTs are poorly maintained,

fall into unsanitary conditions. The major deficiencies of many of these community toilets were

identified as:

a. Lack of cleanliness and poor up-keep,

b. Poor construction standards;

c. Insufficient water and electricity supply;

d. Inappropriate accessibility due to location;

e. Insecurity (especially for women users); and

f. Inadequate funds and arrangements for Operation & Management.

(Source: NSSO)

Many of these deficiencies can be effectively addressed through better planning, design and

construction. In absence of CTs, people have to depend on public toilets nearby – as is the case

in densely populated slums adjacent to commercial and public places.18

18 Community Slum Sanitation in India, World Bank Group, March 2016 available at www.wsp.org

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In India, only 36.4 per cent of the total population have latrines, making it one of the worst

nations for sanitation coverage in the world. As of 2015, about 10 percent of urban population

of 419 million resort to open defecation (OD) in India.19 As India plans Smart Cities, it is

imperative to have a framework to deal with urbanization issues focussing on—social

equitability, Economic viability, and Environmental sustainability.20

Since the launch of Government of India’s the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission),

more than 12 million toilets have been constructed in rural areas. Inequality in access to

sanitation facilities is acute, with more than 90% of urban residents compared to only 39% in

rural India. Additionally, 44% of the population continues to defecate in the open. Government

of India’s National Health Policy 2017 sets targets for disease elimination, improving health

services and also investing significant resources towards ending open defecation by 2019

through the Swachh Bharat programme with the support of UN.21

There was a successful campaign “No Toilet, No Bride” in the state of Haryana22 where after

getting sensitization about the need of toilet and sanitation practices, many young women

refused to marry unless the bridegroom furnishes their future home with a bathroom, freeing

them from the use community toilets or squatting in fields.23

Choosing appropriate design of toilet, propagating technologies for sewage treatment, creating

infrastructure and capacities for the same is of paramount importance. The twin-pit design for

toilet in India was pioneered by a Gandhian and the founder of Sulabh Foundation - Bindeswari

Pathak. Sulabh’s public toilets are very cheap to assemble by local masons. The toilet uses

local materials available, are easy to maintain, need minimum water and Sulabh’s twin-pit

toilets, installed on ground surface, have zero effluent discharge system.24

Around 87% of the households use tap, tube-well, hand-pumps and covered wells as the main

source for drinking water and only 47% have the source of water within the premises. Still 36%

households have to fetch water from a source located within 100 meters in urban areas and 500

meters in rural areas.25 Lack of access to water has a significant impact on the sanitation and

hygiene practices and the health of women in terms of extra workload and 55% of them are

forced to bathe in the open because they do not have any private bathing facilities.26

Additionally, in India, Manual scavenging is still widespread. There is the problem of dry, or

basket-type latrines, which require manual removal of faeces which is highly dangerous. The

19 www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/India.xls 20 PwC India: The Smart City Perspective, July 2014. 21 http://in.one.un.org/health-water-and-sanitation/ 22 Sachidananda, (1999) Social Dimensions of Water Supply and Sanitation, Sulabh Institute of Development

Studies and Concept Publishing, New Delhi, India. 23Dietvorst, C. D. (n.d.). dietvorst | Sanitation Updates. Sanitation Updates | News, Opinions and Resources for

Sanitation for All. Retrieved May 12, 2010, from http://sanitationupdates.wordpress.com/author/dietvorst/ 24 India needs to adopt nature-friendly sanitation technologies- Pankaj Narayan Pandit, June 2016. Available at

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/india-needs-to-adopt-nature-friendly-sanitation-technologies- 54403 25The Hindu Business Line (2012) Households have easier access to phones than sanitation, drinking water

facilities. Available at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article2991835.ece 26Alka Pande, (2012) No toilets for 53 percent population of world’s third biggest economy. Available at:

http://www.citizen-news.org/2012/03/no-toilets-for-53-per-cent-population.html

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improper removal of human waste causes scavengers to be infected and transmit the diseases

to others.27 The waste in over 13 lakh toilets is flushed into open drains and cleaned by humans.

Around 25 crore households, nearly 12 lakh in rural areas and 13 lakh in urban areas depend

on manual scavengers to remove soil from the toilets.28

Factors affecting toilet use -

Factors like toilet-using habit depends on construction aspects such as a good and well

maintained, user friendly structure that protects privacy, has availability of water and where

the owners are aware of the benefits of good sanitation.29

Number of factors has been found to lead to poor use of toilets. These include30:

Absence of mechanisms to maintain the toilets

Lack of plumbing and drainage facilities

Lack of water, lack of adequate and systematically designed sewage systems

Inadequate mechanisms to maintain these sewage pipelines

Absence of grievance redressal mechanisms

Poor consideration of gender-based factors such as security concerns, extra charges for

women, lack of attention to accessibility factors such as separate entrance for women,

have further led to reduced use of toilets among women.

The World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Joint

Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) in its 2015 report “Progress on

Sanitation and Drinking Water – 2015 Update and MDG Assessment” estimated that 61 percent

of the rural population in India practised open defecation, and assessed the country’s

performance as a whole as “moderate progress” during 1990 and 2015, with a decline in open

defecation by around 30 percent in rural areas during the same period (WHO/UNICEF JMP,

2015). The report also placed India as one of the worst performers in the world, strikingly far

behind many developing countries including its neighbours like Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan

and Sri Lanka which were comparatively ahead than of India in meeting the sanitation targets.

At the time of the survey, i.e. May-June 2017, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) reported

the coverage to be 63.73%.The survey also observed that 91.29% of the people having access

to a toilet, use it.31

27 Anurag Banerjee, Nilanjan Banik, and Ashvika Dalmia (2016), Demand for household sanitation: The case of

India. ARTNeT Working Paper Series No. 154, 2016, Bangkok, ESCAP. Available at http://artnet.unescap.org 28Basant Kumar Mohanty (2012) Census bares the manual scavenging shocker. Available at:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120408/jsp/frontpage/story_15348149.jsp 29Richard Mahapatra (2011) A toilet per second. Available at: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/toilet-

second 30India together (2011) Reaching the unserved in cities. Available at: http://www.indiatogether.org/2011/apr/hlt-

sanit.htm 31 Kumar, Arjun: Lessons from Past Rural Households' Toilet Statistics and of Centrally Sponsored Sanitation

Programs. IndraStra Global Vol. 03, Issue No: 10 (2017) 0021, http://www.indrastra.com/2017/10/ThinkTank-

Lessons-From-Past-Rural-Households-Toilet-Stats-Centrally-Sponsored-Sanitation-Progs-003-10-2017-

0021.html | ISSN 2381-3652

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Learning from the Case Studies

Case Study: 1 Delhi

Nearly three years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan,

only 5 States32 have declared themselves open defecation-free; Delhi, however, is not among

them.33

Due to excessive water consumption and population growth Water stress is a growing problem

in Delhi. In Delhi and Agra, the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE) India has

helped families build household toilets connected to individual or cluster septic tanks and by

linking toilets to Decentralized Waste water Treatment Systems (DEWATs), CURE helped in

generating water for recycling for the purpose of housing construction, peri-urban agriculture

and household use.34

In Delhi, three types of toilets found in slums and informal settlements: individual toilets which

have been constructed by households, Community Toilet Complexes (CTCs) built and

maintained by non-government organisations (i.e. Sulabh International) which go through a

tender process to operate and maintain CTCs and public toilets under the authority of civic

agencies.35

Community toilets are known to be poorly maintained and mostly dysfunctional. As a result,

poor people in the city mostly defecate in the open. The unhygienic environmental situation

from open defecation and lack of waste water disposal in the settlements affects the health of

people inside the settlement as also those living outside.36 One critical challenge faced by rural

villages is adequate source of water.37

After south Delhi38, North Delhi Municipal Corporation Initiates Free Access of Toilets for

Women and children in restaurants/hotels in the City zone of North Delhi.39

32The five States are Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Haryana. 33https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/320-million-indians-still-lack- access-to-

toilet/article19238809.ece/amp/ 34Renu Khosla, Centre For Urban And Regional Excellence (CURE), India 35Haidar, 2017, ‘One seat in every toilet complex reserved for differently abled in Delhi, Hindustan Times, 3

February, viewed 17 March 2017, <http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/one-seat- in-every-toilet-complex-

reserved-for-differently-abled-in-delhi/ story-j4CadxJGb9vHmonmtsTEdP.html>. 36Status of Service Delivery related to Water Supply and Sanitation across Low- income Settlements of Delhi,

A City Survey Report, Prepared for Swachh Delhi Swasthh Delhi (SDSD) – Water Aid India, By Centre for

Urban and Regional Excellence 37Twelfth Five Year Plan – 2012-2017, Report of the Working Group on Rural Domestic Water and Sanitation,

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India 38http://m.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/free-access-to-toilets-hotels-in-north-east-delhi-may-als o-open-loos-

for-women-kids/story-9lV0NG6bJ4hf1OyVUbYYLL.html 39http://swachhindia.ndtv.com/north-delhi-municipal-corporation-initiates-free-access-toilets-restau rants-

women-children-10333/

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(Public Toilet in Cigarette Wala Bagh in Delhi. Source: DNA)

Case Study: 2 Pune

Similar to other parts of the country, the main concern for access to public toilets in Pune is the

quality of toilets provided and its usable access to public. People refuse to use unclean facilities

and instead prefer to defecate in the open. Others avoid travelling to public places or using

public conveniences for lack of sanitation facilities.40

In urban areas, lack of space to build toilets and tenants unwilling to invest in toilets, lead to

open defecation. Addressing the problem of Lack of accessible public toilets facilities, state

women’s commission Chief Vijaya Rahatkar in December’17 wrote to the state and all

municipal corporations under it, asking them to allocate funds for the construction and

maintenance of women’s toilets, emphasising on security concerns. Besides this, PMC also

ordered petrol pumps across the city in December to open their toilets for public use.41

To reduce open defecation and to provide sanitation at individual household level, Pune

Municipal Corporation implemented a project named “One House One Toilet”, this involved

community through various engagement strategies.42

40Gap analysis report for public toilets in Pune, May 2016, Pune Municipal Corporation 41No toilets for women, By Prachee Kulkarni, Pune Mirror, Jan 2, 2018. Available at

https://www.google.co.in/amp/punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/civic/no-toilets-for-

women/amp_articleshow/62329305.cms 42Gap analysis report for public toilets in Pune, May 2016, Pune Municipal Corporation

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(A dilapidated toilet complex on M G Road. Over 60 people from nine families, as well as local shopkeepers,

use this toilet, but it has not been repaired by the owner of the complex despite repeated requests by the

residents. Civic bodies, Zilla Parishads or any public authority are not in charge of maintaining this toilet.

Source: Indian Express)

Case Study: 3 Bhopal

The water supply in the city is operated and managed by the Public Health Engineering

Department (PHED), Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) as well as the BMC. Currently,

majority of the drinking water supply of Bhopal city is supplied by three surface water sources,

namely, the Narmada river (about 185 MLD), the Kolar reservoir (about 155 MLD) and the

Upper Lake (about 118 MLD). The city has around 10 water treatment plants.43

While the Census of India 2001 pointed to a staggering 91 per cent of rural households not

having access to any form of toilets, the proportion has only reduced to 87 per cent a decade

later as noted in the Census of India 2011, clearly signalling a massive challenge facing the

State as it has hardly made any efforts towards providing one of the most basic amenities to its

rural population. Moreover, the mere 13 per cent of households who have toilets, about 10 per

cent have water closets whereas the rest have either pit or other type of toilets.44

Only 20 per cent of the rural households had wastewater outlets within the house and 90 per

cent of them are connected through open drainage. Datia is the district where the highest

proportion (50 per cent) of the households was connected to a drainage system.45 The coverage

in other districts had been much less. The PHED data also show that implementation of new

schemes had been extremely poor and only a small fraction of total sanctioned schemes under

43Gender Responsive Budget Analysis of Urban Development Sector, Centre for Urban Equity Report April 2017 44 Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. 3, July - September : 2012 45 Das, Keshab (2008), ‘Drinking Water and Sanitation in Rural Madhya Pradesh: Recent Initiatives and Issues’,

Working Paper Series No. 183, Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad.

15

the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) had been constructed. It seems that though the funds are

available, the skills needed for implementation are lacking.46

The most important reason for the failure of the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in Madhya

Pradesh can be identified as the poor level of community awareness regarding sanitary and

hygienic practices.47

(A Third Gender public toilet complex inaugurated in Bhopal. Source: File Photo)

46 Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. 3, July - September : 2012 47 Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. 3, July - September : 2012

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III. Overview of Public Sanitation in Uttarakhand

The sanitation behaviour of both men and women is shaped by everyday reality. The only

livelihood activities of the people in Uttarakhand is Agriculture, out-migration and

transhumance that require men and women to stay away from their homes.48 Irrespective of

whether people have a toilet at home or not, while collecting fodder, wood, water, grazing

cattle, or working in agricultural fields they resort to open defecation to save time instead of

returning home.49

Remoteness of these places due to physical and social distance significantly contributes to

practices of open defecation. Due to Mountainous terrain, poor roads and distance of the

villages from markets raw materials is purchased from nearby towns for toilet construction at

higher price increases the cost compared to the ease of going for open defecation. Water supply

is another issue during monsoons and summer season. Access to piped water is often

compromised when pipes break.50

For those who had a latrine without water for flushing and washing, Open Defecation near

natural water sources was regular. Another issue for inaccessibility of this area due to poor

roads is Inability to empty pits. Villagers restrict latrine usage only to the elderly and children

to avoid filling of pits quickly.51

Government of India initiated Uttarakhand Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project which

became effective on November 30, 2006 with objective to improve the effectiveness of Rural

Water Supply and Sanitation services where decision-making was decentralized to village

committees. Improved latrines construction achieved 96.78% of the project targets and 30% of

rural communities was declared free of open defecation.52

Case Study: 4 Dehradun (A study conducted by Gati Foundation)

- Objective of the Study

According to Swachh Survekshan 2017, Dehra Dun ranks 316th among 434 cities on

cleanliness index. (This includes garbage, open drains and lack of public toilets). The number

of public toilets in the state capital is extremely low as compared to its population. According

to statistics, there is just one toilet for 8,800 persons in the city.

48https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15306410 49Toilet use in Uttarakhand: A mountainous issue. Available at http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/toilet-

use-uttarakhand-mountainous-issue 1/ 50Toilet use in Uttarakhand: A mountainous issue. Available at http://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/toilet-

use-uttarakhand-mountainous-issue 1/ 51Exploring ‘‘The Remote” and ‘‘The Rural”: Open Defecation and Latrine Use in Uttarakhand, India. World

Development Vol. 93 (2017).

52 Document of the world bank, Report No: ICR00003689, Uttarakhand Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project

June 30, 2016

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Around 5000 women visit Paltan Bazaar, and more than 2000 women visit Tibetan market on

a daily basis; there are no clean toilets available in the area. There are nearly 120 small and big

markets in the state capital, most of which lack in adequate number of public lavatories.

Gati Foundation, a research and policy-oriented, evidence-based and “go-to-ground” think

tank, has committed itself to intervene in the field and conducted a social audit of public toilets

in the city as a starting point. These toilets are being managed by different authorities such as

Sulabh International, Nagar Nigam, and Railway etc.

- Methodology Adopted

Foundation covered 20 toilets located in the various areas of the city (ISBT, Prem Nagar,

Rajpur Road, Bindal pull etc.) Team Gati inspected all the toilets in these areas with the help

of a ‘check list’ mentioning the basic facilities which must be installed in the public utility

complexes for the users. The components of check list were based on the parameters laid down

by UN, WASH and Swachh Bharat Mission.

- Findings/Outcome

Soap/Liquid Handwash facilities absent in all the toilets that were survyed.

Absence of toilet freshners in all the toilets.

Not even a single public toilet had a dustbin installed.

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50% Toilets do not have functional lighting system.

No written record for routine cleaning and maintenance of toilets is available.

Absence of disabled friendly infrastructure in toilets

DO YOU KNOW?

There is only one public urinal between Saharanpur Chowk to Prince Chowk which is in an extremely unhygienic condition!

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IV. Recommendations

1- Geo-tagging of public/community toilets so that they can be easily identified through

mobile applications like Google maps.

2- Construction of adequate number of public utilities in market places, keeping in mind

the growing rate of population and influx of tourists in the city.

3- A system for recording the cleaning and other essential services must be deployed in

the public utility complex. It must be open for public inspection.

4- Providing at least soap/liquid hand wash and toilet freshener facility in every public

toilet immediately.

5- Constructing “Pink Toilets” exclusively for ladies equipped with facilities of

providing sanitary napkins and its disposal.

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