Where are we heading?

The main question that comes into my mind these days is that " Where are we heading?". Obviously, it is not myself alone who is having this question in his/her mind. I was very fearful when I saw the 2014 general election results and the rise of a party which has capitalized only by playing communal cards among the masses. that fear became reality within these three years and with two more years in their pocket, I as a common citizen of this country, am very much afraid thing about the condition of my country. Everywhere where we see, their is a constant attempt to redefine everything which is not healthy for our diverse nature. Changing the complete face of our history is the prime objective of the communal forces and thereby creating a divide is their sole motive.
I recall when my father said that he is tensed seeing these communal forces winning some of the assemble elections. If I am not wrong, it was after the UP elections. UP elections turned out to be a game changer for the BJP, after otherwise lacklustre performances in some states. While in some states, the party was successful in forming the government through back door lobbying, UP elections gave the steering in BJP's hands by propelling them with a massive majority and decimating the erstwhile government and its enemies. Subsequently, the state chose a Yogi to lead and rest is all we are seeing today. Sometimes, I feel that people are  crazy or dumb to vote these parties, or are they blind as to what all are happening in their surroundings. Be it the mob lynching incidents or deaths of children due to lack of oxygen in a hospital in Gorakhpur, all these incidents gets dissolved within few days and we cannot find a single trace of those incidents. Where have the investigations for Gorakhpur hospital incident reached? We still have no idea what happened after the news regarding this incident subsided. 
Gujarat assembly elections are the most sought after the BJP came to power in the 2014 general elections. These election will be precursor study for the status BJP as Gujarat being the most BJP friendly state in the recent past will be used as a marker for the 2019 general elections. Will the BJP be voted out of power or will the story remain the same. As we see the overall mood among the people of Gujarat, we can witness an eagerness for anti-incumbency due to hollow developments carried out in the state and wrongly posing Gujarat model as the paramount model of development. Mere rhetoric will not help BJP now and if it helps then I surely will be more afraid about our country's path and to where we all are heading.

Crisis of Open Defecation - How can we take lessons from Bangladesh?

Open Defecation: A problem that has been in our country for years or decades, but we have not moved forward in curbing it.

Where does the problem lie?

-- Is it with the mindset of our people
-- Is it with the successive governments

I think both these factors contribute equally to this problem. It is only if there is a combined effort from both the people and the government can this issue be resolved. The rural areas have been plagued with the cases of diarrhoeal deaths due to lack of hygiene and improper sanitation. Almost five thousand children die due to diarrhoea every day due to unhygienic sanitation (UN-Water, 2008).
We have all come across a popular interview by Union Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam, where he justifies the hike in the petrol prices to build toilets for the poor in India. Is this a correct justification for the hike in petrol prices. Governments have been launching a lot of schemes for improving the sanitation for the poor, especially in the rural India and have been investing crores of rupees into these projects with negligible improvement in curbing open defecation. So, I think that money is not the problem for such bad performance of these schemes and neither a hike in petrol prices will help build toilets for the poor. The main problem in all these schemes is the lack of deliverability and lack of awareness among the poor about the ill effects of open defecation. Even though if in a panchayat, toilets are built to reduce open defecation, people still prefer to defecate in the open rather than using those toilets. They are not aware of the consequences of unhygienic conditions. Illiteracy is another major factor which has aggravated the whole episode. So, the whole trend of linking money and investment into this problem is of no use unless and until we start from the grass root levels.

A recent development which has been in news is the one related to our neighbour - Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been successful in reducing open defecation to 1%. A country with less per capita income than ours has shown the whole world that a developed status or a higher per capita income is not necessary to make changes in the society. An article in the magazine - Economic & Political Weekly shows a comparative study of the problem of open defecation in the districts situated at the West Bengal-Bangladesh border.

http://www.epw.in/…/perspectives/sanitation-west-bengal.html
Bangladesh has used Shame vs. Subsidy as a social marketing strategy to eradicate open defecation.


From EPW magazine:

"The Government of Bangladesh adopted the CLTS approach for its National Sanitation Programme. Using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods, community members evaluate their own sanitation status, including the extent of open defecation and the spread of faecal–oral contamination that detrimentally affects everyone. The CLTS approach ignites a sense of disgust and shame once people collectively realise the adverse impact of open defecation. This realisation mobilises them to initiate collective action to eradicate open defecation and improve the sanitation situation (Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh 2013).

The spectacular improvement in many social development indicators in Bangladesh is aided by the strong presence of NGOs and the density of settlements and their accessibility via an extensive network of rural roads (Wahiduddin et al 2013). Expertise in social marketing is a prerequisite for success in breaking the primary barriers of behaviour and perception. When international NGOs, with expertise in social marketing, work in close collaboration with national or local NGOs, their knowledge and skills in social marketing are transferred to the people working at the grass-roots level. The experience of Bangladesh in sanitation corroborates this strongly, as social marketing has played an important role in improving sanitation in Bangladesh.

Social marketing is a systematic approach to public health problems. It goes beyond marketing. It is not motivated by profit alone but is concerned with achieving a social objective. Social marketing is therefore concerned with how the product is used after the sale has been made. The aim is not simply to sell latrines, for example, but to encourage their correct use and maintenance. (DFID 1998)"

Hence it clearly suggests that proper awareness and literacy among the masses is the factor of utmost importance in order to tackle any social issue. It remains the in the hands of the society to adopt a holistic approach.