70 per cent false claims about Open-defecation free villages in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Out of 2,04,245 villages in India, only 1,05,456 have been verified as open-defection free. According to reports, out of 7900 villages in Karnataka that affirmed them open-defecation free (ODF) only 2383 villages have been verified by the state government as open defecation free. That is only 30%.

Sumathi CR, PDO of Somashettihalli says that in most of the villages water and infrastructure are major problems even now. In addition, many if the people still have the mentality of not having toilets in or attached to their homes. Especially the people in the rural areas prefer defecating in the open as they find it a complex procedure to get toilets at home.

She also added that the central and state government has granted Rs.12000 for general category and Rs.15000 for SC/ST and other backward classes. Even the state government has Swaccha Grama Yojana that aims at providing clean environment to the villages. According to few social activists it is the gram Panchayat’s responsibility to ensure that every house has a toilet and it hasn’t happened because of corruption and negligence at the panchayat level management.

Rahul Prasad, a social activist, has said that it is the responsibility of the government to cooperate with the Panchayat to make sure they build toilets in the villages and to create awareness at the base. TV advertisements and other media awareness are not applicable as most of the villages’ do not have a cable connection.

Through Swacch Bharath Abhyayan, out of 2,04,245 villages throughout the country, only 1,05,456 have been verified as open-defection free, which works out to only 52 percent.

India Spend reports have stated that India, the world’s second-largest country by population, has the highest number of people (732 million) without access to proper toilets. The report also states that 355 million women and girls lack access to proper toilets.