People defecating outside is a common practice seen across India. A 2015 UNICEF/WHO Global Sanitation estimated that over 560 million people in India still practice open defecation - more than half the global total of 949 million.
The practice leading to poor sanitation is considered as the reason behind one of the country's worst health problems of relentless malnutrition. "We lose 100,000 babies a year due to poor sanitation," told Madu Krishna to ABC News. Krishna is the the Gates Foundation program director for water sanitation in India.
In a bid to put an end to open defecation by 2019, The Indian government has launched Swachch Bharat Abiyan (Clean India Mission). As part of this, the Indian states are constructing a number of toilets and putting up mobile toilet facility in parts of cities where toilet facility was not in place.
To accelerate the efforts, many civic bodies have come forward with a variety of innovative measures in various parts of the country since last year. Reports say these measures have made significant results by putting an end to the age long habit of open defecation.
Imposing Fines
The start of 2016 saw many villages across India imposing fines from those caught defecating and urinating in public. While some villages impose a tiny fine of Rs 10 (approx AUD $0.20), for impoverished villagers, the impact is significant.
Rajkot, a city in Gujarat decided to impose a fine of Rs 50 on those caught defecating in open regardless of having a functional toilet in their homes or in the locality. In addition to this, Rajkot Municipal Corporation(RMC) has also warned house owners to provide toilet facility to the tenants who are from outside city. Failure of this would cost them Rs 500-Rs 1,000 as penalty, The Times of India reports.
Following this path, by the end of the year, capital city of New Delhi, Indore and many other states have started imposing fines from those caught defecating and urinating in public. After the announcement of an open defecation free state in December 2016, The Times of India reports that Indore, a city in west-central India has started imposing fine of Rs 100 from the violators.
Mewat, a village in Haryana is the latest to implement the tactic of fining. Shakuntala Devi, a respected elder among the women of Mewat in Haryana, told ABC News, "Ten rupees is a lot for us poor people, that is what we charged them, and now nobody goes."
As part of the initiative, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, has also started imposing a fine ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 on those urinating in public.
Mascots
In a move to keep the city clean, New Delhi has deputed 28 live mascots in its 14 sanitation circles, The Times of India reports. The mascots who work in shifts guard the area and blow whistle at those found defecating or urinating in the open, so that person will be caught and fined.
Source: India Times
Shaming in public
This is another innovative measure implemented by the country as part of the task. Displaying the photographs on a digital billboard of those caught defecating in the open, accompanying them home with a band, or detention in a police station are the novel public shaming methods in practice by some urban local bodies in Maharashtra, Mumbai, The Indian Express reports.
Creating Awareness
Besides fines, educating program is also being rolled out to explain to locals the link between toilets and health. Poor sanitation in India is blamed for persistent malnutrition and child stunting.
According to The Hindu daily, The Coimbatore Corporation in Tamil Nadu that identified 75 open defecation spots across five zones in the city, wants the city to be completely free from it. As a move to this, the Corporation is engaged in educating people the consequences of open defecation and encouraging them to use toilets.
Apart from this, celebrities like composer-singer Shankar Mahadevan and Bollywood actor Salman Khan have joined hands in the mission. Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who has a large fan following have came forward to sensitize and educate people of Mumbai about the menace of open defecation, Hindustan Times reports.
The project initiated by a group of creative college students of Delhi University, in educating people living in slums about healthy and hygienic practices have reduced the open defecation rates from 95% to a mere 3% in just one year.
As of 2016, 16 out of 677 districts in India have been declared open defecation-free, Global Citizen India tweets.
With all these innovative techniques put to practice, the country is hoping for a clean India, eradicating open defecation by 2019.
