The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

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India
Inside toilets may not appeal to all Indian
villagers
Children walk to defecate in an open field in a village in Uttar Pradesh, India. Photograph: Prakash
Singh/AFP/Getty Images
Letters
Wednesday 28 December 2016 18.39 GMT Last modified on Wednesday 28 December 2016
22.00 GMT
As an anthropologist working on rural life in India, I find describing public defecation as “ingrained
in India’s rural culture” an oversimplification of a complex problem of social life in country areas
(Delhi council to shame people into using toilets, 21 December).
It is true that cities such as Delhi have experienced an influx of migrants from the countryside, but one
cannot dismiss rural habits quite so simply. My research has shown that rural folks have not taken up
the government’s idea of building modern enclosed toilets in their villages because the old practice of
open defecation was to avoid carrying back the smell inside their house, which modern enclosed
toilets do not allow.
Open defecation in India: forcing people to stop
is not the solution
Read more
In villages, people choose to defecate outside to be close to nature and traditionally follow this
practice with a shower. With severe water shortages in the countryside, hygiene practices have had to
adjust to preserve water while also avoiding disease. The defecation area in the village is not random