10-04-2017, 08:38 PM
The government is aiming to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 12 crore toilets in rural India, at a projected cost of 1.96 lakh crore (US$29 billion).[10][11] Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the need for toilets in his 2014 Independence Day speech stating,
Has it ever pained us that our mothers and sisters have to defecate in open? Poor womenfolk of the village wait for the night; until darkness descends, they can t go out to defecate. What bodily torture they must be feeling, how many diseases that act might engender. Can't we just make arrangements for toilets for the dignity of our mothers and sisters?
Narendra Modi
Modi also spoke of the need for toilets in schools during the campaign for 2014 Jammu and Kashmir state elections stating,
When the girl student reaches the age where she realises this lack of female toilets in the school she leaves her education midway. As they leave their education midway they remain uneducated. Our daughters must also get equal chance to quality education. After 60 years of independence there should have been separate toilets for girl students in every school. But for the past 60 years they could not provide separate toilets to girls and as result the female students had to leave their education midway.[12]
Narendra Modi
As of May 2015, 14 companies including Tata Consulting Services, Mahindra Group and Rotary International have pledged to construct 3,195 new toilets. As of the same month, 71 Public Sector Undertakings in India supported the construction of 86,781 new toilets.[13]
Most of these toilets are a type of pit latrine, mostly the twin pit pour flush type.
