Also Read: India Sanitation and Toilet Summit, 6 Feb 2015, New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on Thursday and kick started the plans to build toilets and provide sanitation facilities across the country.
Under “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, the government has promised “total sanitation” by 2019, which means every household in India will have a toilet by the targeted deadline. So let us take a look at why is this Clean India mission the need of the hour today:
1. A UN report in May had said that currently, nearly 60 percent of India’s population practice open defecation which puts them at risk of diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid etc.
2. Not only this, India also face economic loss because of poor hygiene and sanitation in the country as a World Bank report in 2006 said that India losses 6.4 percent of GDP annually because of the aforementioned reason.
3. Reports say that India is a gold medalist in open defecation and nearly 60 per cent of Indian population clear their bowels in the open. This 60 percent is roughly 58% of the people who practise open defecation all over the world.
4. India loses at least 1000 children a day to diarrhoeal deaths and the reason for these deaths is open defecation and lack of proper sanitation facilities.
5. As per reports, water of river Ganga is unsafe for bathing because it contains faecal coliform bacteria (120 times higher than the permitted levels) in large amounts and again the reason is open defecation in our country.
6. Poor hygiene and sanitation facilities costs India 600,000 lives annually becuase of diarrhea and not only this, lack of toilets also expose one third of country’s women to the risk of rape or sexual assault.
7. India accounts for about 60 percent of the world’s residents without toilets, according to a report released in May by the World Health Organization and Unicef.
8. Swachh Bharat’s connection with economic activity of the country : Advocating the idea of Clean india, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “The pursuit of cleanliness can be an economic activity, contributing to GDP growth, reduction in healthcare costs, and a source of employment.”
9. If India and its tourist destinations are clean, it will bring more people and will also bring about a paradigm shift in the country’s global perception. If proper hygiene and sanitation will not become a practise in our country then no one will be able to save the country from the health hazards and losses that will loom over the Indian populace in near future. So, let’s make Swachh Bharat a mass movement and save our country from all the dangers.
(Source: http://news.oneindia.in)
